I thought banks want a seasoning period of 12 months? 

I eventually took out a 8 month interest-only personal loan for the entire purchase price at 5.5% There will be permanent financing options available after the rental has "seasoned" for 6 months; since I bought the property at auction as a "case only deal," conventional financing wasn't allowed by the seller. 

I'm not a seasoned investor as I have only been doing this for about 4 years (yet to invest during a recession), but nevertheless, as you stated above, this is what I would do in your shoes. 

However, the downside of not waiting for the seasoning period and doing a rate-term faster means initial money we put stays in the deal which is about ~5% of ARV.

I have been wondering, I am aware of many seasoned investors are prevalent on this site and this also goes to anyone who has dived into the investing world. 

When is the rental cycle season for your area?

Will any of you ( the seasoned HML ers) lend on such properties ?

In a perfect world the deal would go like this- pay for the property and renovations with some form of cash and cash out refi almost immediately and be on our merry way (sidenote: we DO have a bank that won't require the property to be seasoned).My predicament: We don't have $45K+ to temporarily tie up in the purchase and rehab before we refi cash out.

Hey Erick, I would say find a seasoned Rehabber and partner up volunteering your labor and part investment.

This is a great place to learn and bounce ideas off other seasoned investors.