I dont know about conventional. 

If I was able to qualify for a 20% down conventional loan on an “investment” property, do I lose my first time home buyers loan option?

You can buy houses perpetually at 5% down, with owner occupied interest rates, and no conventional loan limit (10 loan limit doesn’t apply if you are going to live in the house).

I would pick an area that is B/C class with a housing inventory that has some value to be added with strong rental demand and ideally low enough crime for you to feel comfortable going there at night.

We are in a low inventory market where if the duplex is priced realistically, it should sell with little effort.

Can't decide if we should refi our home and pay for the rental in full, or get a  conventional loan on rental and put down our cash plus take some money out of our home in a HELOC or equity loan??? 

@Jonathan EscobarIf you want another fha loan then you have to refinance the first one to a conventional loan.

Ask some teams from markets that you're interested in to show you recent inventory and the rents they received so you can determine the cash flow they received.

Refinancing with a conventional lender will get that monthly payment down to $.50 a month, because it would have a much lower interest rate over a longer term.Now lets say your new lender will refi at 75% of the appraised value of the home.

Were the mortgages conventional; specifically Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae?