You must learn to manage the property well.

We negotiated a deal with the owner for 20% Equity, we are responsible for infilling the community as well as property management (which we also get paid separately for).

It sounds like a single family house where you will be living in the house(personal use).Therefore, you may not be getting the tax benefits you think you are.Consult an accountant.I am not sure why your sister would agree to this as well, she is losing $170,000 in this transaction and she faces the possibility of you increasing her rent.You also have to charge market rent or close to market rent or it is all deemed personal use.

I bet that essentially no one is starting new construction projects, which bodes extremely well for owners 2-4 years from now.- Prices for insurance policies will never go back down, but it is not unreasonable to expect costs to rise at a more predictable pace from here.

So I am assuming you were the lender on these properties and they did not manage them well and they went into foreclosure.

Some have been on the market for weeks", that doesn't bode well for renting of any kind really.

That home was in Milpitas CA.. probably worth about 1 mil today.. but I lived there 2 years sold it made over 50k and I was off to the races.. primary home equity as I look back 50 years of ownership and multiple homes has made me well over 2.5 million in tax free gains. 

(well you said "negligible".

If you want it to run well, you may be spending a lot of time at the property.

We've utilized the VA loan for our current home, and this strategy has worked well so far.