Approved for up to 1.2m in conventional financingAny help or guidance is appreciated.  

Buying FHA or 5% down conventional you are signing an owner occupant affidavit, stating you will be occupying a house for one year.

Freddy Mac has a program called Home possible that you might be able to use for a conventional loan with 5% down.

Another thing about FHA is that they have higher standards than other conventional financing.

We have the down payment and access to cash for the renovation - but getting a conventional mortgage would be tricky because we had to walk away from a mortgage in 2008 (surprise, surprise) and it took the bank until 2013 to finalize the paperwork - hence, our waiting period is until 2020.But the deal is NOW! 

If you have enough to refinance into a conventional loan then you will get your VA entitlement back and be able to purchase your next property with it!

I don’t qualify for an FHA or regular conventional loan due to the fact that I did a short sale in 2016 so I was asking him about doing a hard money loan.

How do I go about getting a conventional or FHA loan without having any work history at the time of the move?

We did a conventional loan and put 20% down, so as to not have to pay PMI.

Conventional financing 25% down 25 year mortgage.