No the rates are not on par with conventional when you figure in additional costs and pre-payment penalties. 

Which school did you choose for your pre-licensing courses and why?

Connect with open builder developments, make some deals, connect with some builder sot get other deals set and now develop from new for rental real estate, get them leased up earliest possible, pre or during build.

Get pre-approved and submit offers on whatever property you like.

I'm really interested in foreclosure/ pre-foreclosure purchases and have been studying on how to read court documents, title searches, and I have been watching the auctions daily.

Get pre approved so that when your rehab is ready appraisal gets done and you close without taking a ton of time. 

Also, if you didn't receive a pre-approval letter from a VA approved lender with the buyers offer ask for one.

If you are below a 1% ratio of rents to payment, the rates get worse and worse.Also, the best rates for DSCR come with the longest Pre payment penalties. 

If we then have another meeting that we are pre signed up  and have paid for which is on Wednesday, the expenses that my wife and I incur on Tuesday are deductible because it is considered a work day since it falls in between 2 separate days of meetings that are directly related to our business.  

There are deals to be had as prices have gone down compared to two years ago but compared to pre-pandemic we have appreciated.