I approached a hard money lender - but again - my score is too low.

It depends on your goals.

I have investors who work in SBern...it all depends on the deal you are getting.

You normally take out either a 20 or 30 year amortizing mortgage depending on if it's a commercial or residential loan.  

I ran the Transunion SmartMove background check with credit report, criminal history, and eviction report and it came back clean, but had to reject two other applicants after their SmartMove scores came back low for low credit scores and numerous pre-eviction filings at local courts.  

Depending on the property, the rates are still off about 30%.

@Vincent ChenRefinancing can be a great option depending upon what your end goal truly is.

If you know how it has been dug and formed, you'll know that it all depends on the source, so saying that quartz is more durable than granite, in one area quartz is harder than granite, and on another location granite is harder than quartz, stone is stone, nothing special about it.

do you need FHA due to DTI or credit score?

Depends on budget really but, if you want to be in the heat of the movement, stay north, thats where the money is going.