I live in Jacksonville FL and Just bought my first Duplex in Ashtabula OH.I have a licensed Real Estate Agent, Licensed Property Manager and two Lenders (conventional and Hard).To be honest this is to be my retirement.

They refused to accept my terms and said I would need to put down 30% versus the traditional 80/20 with conventional terms.

You can do a duplex though, which might not be a bad idea.With your credit score, conventional might be a good choice, you only need 5% down for 2-4 units if you live in one. 

HUD and Agency financing is another beast compared to conventional or non-bank lending (Secondary Market).

I sell mostly turnkey Airbnb properties both subject to and conventional, and the buyers list is deep!

and maybe even some encouragement.The Beginning: A Flooded Start and Big AdjustmentsI started the year by purchasing the property with 5% down, thanks to new Fannie Mae guidance on conventional loans around December 2023.

Should we do a conventional loan?

If it was me, I'd just go conventional or use a vacation home type loan w/ a lower downpayment. 

Great idea, although conventional and FHA renovation loans are somewhat of a pain to qualify for.

and the entire conventional wisdom of the 70% are there any people who don't really use it all and have found out their ways of making the numbers work Like adjusting the percentage based on the market.