Carpentry is often wood related, but most true carpenters are not drywallers.  

I will need to research a bit on the fannie freddie part because if that is indeed true then I defintely will be ruled out already.

Is that still true even the roof was torn and impacted the service?

Good luck"will ding their credit", is that always true?

I am not a CPA, but I'm fairly sure that is not universally true.

After 18 months of living on the beach the kids really wanted trees and a true back yard, so we moved a few miles to the bay and converted the VA loan property to a STR. 

The same is true here.

This might also be true even after you move out and put a renter in your unit, so make sure to analyze the property as owner-occupied and also after you move out. 

It is very intriguing to me but sounds to good to be true.

Its simply not feasible to run title on everything that you want to bid on if your out west.the reason is you can look at 50 props you like and only 1 maybe 2 will actually go to sale and you have competition on those.. now i am talking TRUE foreclosure sales not Auction after the fact.