Conventional mortgages have no opportunity. 

From the tenant's pov, I don't see why a conventional lender would have issues with a tenant buying the property as a primary that they've been living in.Cheers!

., as a licensed real estate agent who focuses predominantly on rent-by-the-room acquisition, the majority of my clients finance their deals either conventional, DSCR, or cash.

If so conventional will be better because FHA/Conv guidelines are the wheel house typically of mortgage broker and some times banker (synonymous names but they all do and sell the same product).Credit unions can sometimes do Fannie Freddie/conventional FHA too but generally aren’t that great at them.

For an owner-occupied property with 5% down, consider a conventional loan with a renovation option like Fannie Mae  or Freddie Mac.

Should I assume the in-place IHDA loan at acquisition or close with a conventional loan and try to get IHDA loans/grants/credits later if/when I decide to keep affordable?  

I’d be looking to purchase with a conventional loan, 25% down, at about 7.99% rate currently.

You can put a little as 5% down payment for conventional or 3.5% for FHA.Alternative way, is to acquire the 2nd property as an investment property with conventional, while putting 15%-25% down payment.

DSCR loans are not always more expensive than conventional financing!

Conventional loans are an option if you have good credit, but they can be harder to get for flips.