I'll be heading to LA and SD this weekend to scope out the potential places and areas (no offer on the cabin yet).

Think of SD the way courts do “a shield not a sword”

I use mine to invest as an LP in syndications.Most of the time its used to invest passively invest though I did have a client do multiple rental arbitrages out of a SD IRA. 

@Mac Boeve Michigan statute requires you to provide a MoveIn Checklist to every tenant, which they have 2 weeks to complete and return.If you fail to provide one to tenant, it may exempt them from MoveOut Damages.If tenant fails to provide you a completed MoveIn Checklist, they assume all MoveOut Damages.If tenant fails to give you forwarding address within 4 days of MoveOut, you technically don't have to give them an Itimized List of Damages - meaning you can theoretically charge them for anything, any price.You should know, a judge may disagree with you if tenant takes you to Small Claims Court to challenge your SD deducations. 

Now SD area isnt cheap so if you arent careful and have the right guidance you might end up buying a crap deal.

We try to do them 60-90 days BEFORE lease renewal, so we don't renew a tenant taking poor care of a property.Appears your tenants will be challenging your keeping of their SD.

As someone whose been a realtor for 6 years here locally in SD I'm very familiar with the VA loan and would be happy to help guide you on your RE journey. 

I love SD.

Like other posters have mentioned - it will likely vary by lender - but generally most states will be OK with either Individual or LLC but there are a handful of states that due to various regulatory interpretations will require a LLC (or require a LLC to have prepayment penalties on the loan structure) Borrower = Individual or Entity AL, AK, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, DC, HI, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MS, MO, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OH, OK, OR, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VT, WA, WV, WI, WY Borrower = Entity only GA, FL, IA, MT, RI, VA (1-4 Units) Prepayment Allowed Vested Entities Only IL, NJ

Everyone assumes Calif is the SF area and LA/SD area only.Texas/Austin was destined to go down in price.