Some of these loans are attainable the same way a traditional mortgage is obtained and can require a little less in downpayment.  

This would have been a commercial loan - I used the term "conventional" when I should have said "traditional", meaning that I was assuming the standard loan terms for this type of property.

Here's the situation.I've found a property I would like to purchase The bank won't loan on it because it needs some rehabI would like to get a hard money loan to purchase it and fix it upThen I would like to move into it and pay off the hard money loan with traditional financing.I'm a newbie, especially to hard money, so help me understand...

Traditionally, rents don't really move up and down much and I really doubt this would be a drastic change.I think the most critical situation today is that there is a lower supply and higher demand in the real estate market now that the economy is doing well.

He is willing to take the risk of losing a little market upside with locking into a tangible asset he owns.I tended to be fairly consistent in annually looking at my portfolio and seeing what had performed, what had not, and re-balancing as needed (based on traditional pie chart models of diversification).  

@Ben Freiman,Any IRA can be rolled over into self-directed IRA, including SIMPLE, SEP, Traditional, Roth. 

Single family homes, on traditional lots in this area and you should be good.best to you - 

There is NO product that compares to the 30 year traditional mortgage.

I'm a relative newbie - we own 5 rentals with traditional conventional financing, no LLC, and a good umbrella policy.  

He has a non-traditional way to expense, versus just a flat percentage of your rent.