@Dean Klein The product I am thinking of is a conventional loan with 5% down.

It's scheduled to close on 1/28/2020, and we are using a second-home conventional loan because we do not qualify for primary (we're employed in CA and will not be in the home within 60 days of closing, more like 100) and we don't have the capital to put down on an investment loan (we want that extra cash we have saved for the BRRRR, AND need proof of 6 months of payment saved up anyways). 

For my first property i went conventional 97% financed and 2 first time home buyer "grants" ended up only paying $1200 total at closing.

(Either 5% conventional or 3.5% FHA.)You can do a live-in house hack if you wanted...either rent-by-the-room for the rooms you're not using or find a nice place with a basement apartment or carriage house so that you maintain some privacy but still have an income suite to generate revenue.

It's 120k but my mortgage broker said because it's a triplex I have to put 25% down (conventional loan).

@Frank HLoan considered conventional if 2-4 units.

I’m using conventional lending, either 75% or 80% LTV depending on the property.

Your broker may have forgotten, but when the appraiser reports back to the lender that it is a rooming house, the lender will walk away or only underwrite an LTV of 50-65%.Your best bet is either a private lender or finding a conventional lender which uses auto-approval software (TD is an example) and mortgage agent/broker who can steer you towards an application that qualifies for auto-approval (if at all possible).When we were first in the same situation, we approached a family member with a proposal to have their name on title and live in the house (rent and utilities free) in exchange for their serving as the Den Mother to keep the house in order.  

Here is the situation: I am trying to purchase a house with a conventional loan - 25% down, 30 yr fixed that I will put under my personal name.

I have plans to get a free and clear property under control in capitol hill with an 8 to 12 month purchase option (because they're not ready to move out and sell just yet) then put a rehab VA conventional loan to cover repairs and upgrades, then air B&Bit (other than the roof, the home has all original everything so I'm not quite sure how to estimate needed repairs) Now because of this rule I can't.