DIY on a house with no equity may end up with black suits visiting your house, especially if seller is elderly or protected person. 

How much should a general contractor charge to allow my company to pull permits for each renovation and how much should he charge per onsite visit to spot check subcontractor work?

That starts with what locations do you enjoy visiting and would love to share with other people!

The value is in that cabin, in that location, with 12+M people visiting every year.

Applicants that offer to pay all - or most - of the rent up front are typically trying to pass your screening process or skip to the front of the line ahead of other applicants.

FWIW, I’m not from the area but just visited yesterday and saw a few multi families.

Budget in some cushion for going to visit the property and worst case scenarios.  

A savvy investor will impute a negative inference to the fact that Spark is unlicensed, cannot legally make investment recommendations and owe you no sort of duty (fiduciary or otherwise) to put your financial interest ahead of their own. 

BTW this wording comes from Thanks for Visiting located in Columbus, Ohio.

If you want to use the VA loan, I would just go ahead and do it in your personal name and just make sure you have a good insurance policy (the first line of defense).