Paying Back Hard Money Loan/Being Approved for Conventional Mrtg

I have a question. I am in the education stage on my real estate investor process. So far I have been finding the answers to most things but I have a question. Let's say I find a property and get it contracted. I find a hard money lender who is willing to meet my full financial needs in terms of purchase price and rehab. The plan all along was to rehab and flip but you see an opportunity in renting the property for a while before flipping. At that time, you need to apply for a traditional mortgage to avoid the exorbitant fees of a hard money loan over the course of time a traditional loan generally takes. So how do you go about acquiring this loan in a way that it pays back the hard money lender? Is the refinance from the new institution going to issue funds for what the property is assessed at so I can then pay back the hard money lender (and hopefully have money left over)?

I also believe my question has another layer to it. I currently am a home owner as of two years ago so wouldn't it be more difficult to get another mortgage in my name?

Any guidance would help tremendously. Thank you in advance.