If your LO is telling you their VA rate is higher than Conventional...RUN.6.

So I think its more stable and less vacancy. 69k getting up to 4 properties sounds optimistic, closing cost and LO cost are still expensive.

This is why its important to get educated from one of the RTO/LO/WLO educators.

Get with a LO who is well-versed in these. 

First, you shouldn't be giving credits...that will get you in trouble if your tenant has a half smart lawyer.Second, when I do SLO I do them out of an LLC...then I just sell the LLC.Third, based on the way you set this up (with credits), if you are able to sell your LO to someone else, you have to transfer the credits you've already collected to the new buyer.

The greatest part is, since you are already in a Conventional loan, there is no need to refi in a year, and now you still have FHA in your pocket for property #2.This is where working with the right LO becomes critical. 

Other LO's or company's may not know how to use projected rental income, I do and we can so I would say be careful swearing off Conventional due to bad experiences with LO's who don't know what they are doing! 

The right/wrong LO can make or break your future success, so this is a critical step to find someone who is truly Team Alex and specializes with house hacking strategies.Once preapproved, your next step is to find a realtor who is also Team Alex and focuses on investors, ROI, the intricacies of Chicago neighborhoods, etc. 

The LO I'm dealing with said he doesn't do them.

His insurance paid some but it took a l-o-n-g time to finish it all.