I've been in Real Estate since '87 so I like to invest in what I know but outside of my company, in my personal portfolio I have about 20% outside of Real Estate assets in other types of debt instruments, private equity, and a bit in the traditional stock market. 

We are using a 2/1 buydown to extend our window to refi.Our lender was a bit all over the place for this loan and also contributed to our delay. 

Hello everyone! My name is Mike and I am brand new to the real estate investing world. I am seeking to grow in my knowledge of strategies and learn to apply them in order to begin building my asset column and investme...

I financed this deal through a hard money lender.

If you're looking to make offers and then use a Private Lender or Hard Money Lender, they're almost always going to ask for your LLC and Articles. 

It seems like "most" lenders (at least the ones I've talked to) don't like the idea of rent-by-the room on a primary ... so they can't count my income on that particular property and they are requiring a 1 year lease on the whole house instead of multiple mid-term leases ... so essentially they want a long term lease.

Are there lenders who would accept less than a 20% DP or is this an absolute must? 

I financed this deal through a hard money lender.

I’m sure someone from the lender community will chime in with the info on that.  

That said I am not an NMLS licensed lender so you should get more information from someone who is (there are plenty on BP).