typically lenders will have a portfolio of products if they are talented...conventional is conventional, but investment-specific loans can vary widely. 

The goal will be to try and set up a lease-option contract or find someone who would be open to a seller financed deal so that I don't have to find 15% down for a conventional loan.

I would however suggest talking to a few additional lenders to see what they say as although I have experience in the conventional lending world I now only do investment loans so things may have changed since I last did a conventional loan. 

I purchased a rental property in 2019 with 20% down conventional loan.

That way you can use conventional financing which is a lot less expensive than commercial.Stephanie

@Kyle MarshIf you don't want to use the FHA 203k option, consider its conventional cousins ...

Once I've secured a hard money loan and used it to buy/rehab a home, how do I present my current situation to a traditional lender when acquiring a conventional loan on the property? 

If you have enough equity to refinance to conventional you will save the 1.75 in mortgage insurance and release more buying power.HELOC's are cheap to set up but variable rate with max of 18 over 15 years.

Now, we’re rethinking that idea since conventional mortgage rates are higher on investment properties.

Generally speaking there are 2 main types of loans for investors: “Conventional” and “Portfolio”Conventional - I'll define these as loans that come from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (if you recognize those names).