A hard money loan charges a high interest rate and is meant to be short term financing.

My problem is I don't have 15-20% for the down payment, and I'm not sure I will be able to get the 5% down conventional loan because I won't be moving into the property within 60 days.

On my settlement statement and a provided invoice from the contractor I was actually charged $2,325, $225 more than quoted. 

Or 20-25% down if it's a conventional or commercial loan.

I recently finished up a flip project less than a mile away from this property and the seller is interested in purchasing this home and they have already been preapproved for a conventional mortgage. 

(you can verify later as to how much they charge)What do the current owners allocate for maintenance/repairs currently?

Conventional: 7 year waiting period.

They are generally very busy right now so can charge a premium.

If you can get a card that charges introductory 0% interest or have the means to pay off the monthly balance, credit card is fine.

You can also do a 5% down conventional conforming up to the $477K loan limit and then a 2nd or HELOC to make up the difference in purchase price.