We originally planned for this to be a mid-term rental, but when my grandma wanted to move, we offered it to her instead for minimal cash flow.

It turned out the whole thing was a bit of a scam - the "lender" took a huge up front fee ($4,000) to do the deal - so it turned out they weren't really the lender... they were acting more like a broker...while it wasn't said this way, it appeared to be "after you pay us $4,000, we'll try to go and find you a loan."  

You most likely will not get owner occupied benefits from your bank though on the loan.

I really like multifamily home purchases, but I would like to eventually try at short term rentals.

Cash money, seasoned in a bank account, plus the ability to qualify for a loan - credit history, job length, etc...

im new here, my names Hunter and I come with two short term rentals and two long term rentals.

I’ll take  a year or so to refinance those into a long term loan and then use their funds for a different property.

Additionally, strong credit, a solid track record in similar projects, and a well-detailed plan for the rehab can also improve your chances of securing favorable financing terms.

There are definitely pros and cons to each so I figured I would just lay out a few benefits and personal thoughts: Small banks/brokerages:Pros:- Some regional knowledge of the market- Possibility of more creative lending guidelines with bank specific programs- Sometimes they have competitive rates for their areaCons: - weak balance sheet (more strict on some guidelines, no wiggle room, inability to be flexible or grant exceptions because they cannot afford to hold less than perfect loans)- Can't scale with clients to different markets- Usually limits exposure to individual investors (they don't want one investor to be too big of a portion of their balance sheet)- Lack of experience with multiple solutions (tend to have 2 or 3 loan products they sell and are too niche to provide tailored solutions)Large banks/brokerages:Pros:- Large compliance departments that understand individual market guidelines (typically each state has specific lending guidelines that augment the national baseline)- Ability to scale into multiple markets with same lender (licensed in many states)- Impossible for individual investors to "outgrow" a large bank's balance sheet (not concerned with one investor's concentration)- More lending solutions available for different scenarios- Often comparable or better rates given the game is volume basedCons:- Can be more difficult to get fast responses if the bank/brokerage does not have good follow up systems in place (or if the underwriting/processing staff gets overwhelmed)- Bad large banks can feel less like a relationship and more like a cog in a factory (less personal)Overall, I have worked from both and worked with both as a loan officer, branch manager, and as an investor/client myself. 

They wanted to give me crazy terms like 10% down on a flipper loan with them financing the fixup even.