Yes, she left some VA eligibility on the home, but had enough eligibility left over to purchase her next home. 

The other potential with only 3.5% down is that you could potentially buy a property and use your left over cash for forced appreciation.

The issue I see with this is that buyers are already strapped for cash enough and it is hard for many to come up with a down payment so many won't be able to afford to come up with these fees and still have money left over. 

Yeah at the time I was a foreman on a construction crew for a local contractor/my beat friend and mentor, so I had a truck full of all the tools, access to leftover materiels needed as well as a significant amount of experience so yes I personally added a second bathroom and as far as the 5th bedroom goes, it was just a matter of putting a door on the "living room".

If I bought something for a specific reason on one of the units I put those materials toward that one where possible even if it could be argued that it was a general expense (like buying 5 gallons of paint for one project and using 2 gallons left over to paint a single room later at another property). 

When I go to the State of Alabama website, under Tax Delinquent Properties, there are "leftover" Tax Deeds in certain counties that were never purchased, which the state is still trying to sell.

I have about $100k available for down payment, closing costs and I'm hoping to have some left over for reserves.

I actually just did a dscr loan to pay off the hard money I borrowed on the second property (where we live and rent the actual house) I estimate the appraisal to come in around $215-280K which if I were to take out 80% would barley give me enough to buy anything in the FL market and have cash left over for renovations.Not sure if im missing a step here or if it might be best to buy an auction home with that cash to flip and have more capital to have more deal options. 

Forget all that making it pop crap or shiny sheens leftover from ten years ago.  

After paying off the first mortgage, there should be some money leftover for you.