I also advertise before someone moves out to get a new tenant before the current one leaves. 100% occupancy on a LTR is very common for me.No idea on a MTR.100% occupancy sounds great, but for a bigger portfolio or apartment complex, it usually means you're leaving money on the table.Here’s an extreme example: I could rent out 100 units at $500 a month and make $50,000.

If I donated to aids health foundation and they spent the money on rent control instead of aids research or health care, I would be pissed.  

I agree with you that I would not want to tie up all that money in home equity when it can be working for you to make more money.

Starting with a smaller property or a few fix-and-flip projects can help you build equity, gain credibility with lenders, and better understand the process before scaling up.Securing funding for larger projects can be challenging without prior experience, but options like hard money loans might be worth exploring.

Lastly, if I was able to get this home at that price below market, are there loan options that require little to know money down, since it is at/below the 85% LTV?

I think they contain solid information and will help lay a good foundation as a beginner (Haha, I'm completely new to real estate as well, btw)I'm also going to be reading the following books, and hopefully I can finish all by the end of this month:1) The ABCs of Property Management2) The Advanced Guide to Real Estate Investing3) Long-Distance Real Estate Investing How to Buy, Rehab, and Manage Out-of-State Rental Properties (this might be the most important one to me personally)4) The Book on Investing in Real Estate with No (and Low) Money DownIn addition to reading, I'm consuming crazy amounts of youtube videos, and I'recommend you do this as well.

I’d take a property with good tenants over more money but constant turnovers any day.

I'm expanding my rental portfolio using my own money...rather than the VA.

Should I spend money on professional photos?

That data would be sales price after remodel (the true numbers some agents really don't have the experience to be comping the property), the days on market you will experience (this is great info because you want to recycle the money quickly), and resources to sell the place fast not slowly which you do not want this because this could put your holding costs extremely high and push the property to little profit or no profit.