I have blank contracts in my truck .

I have been educating myself on wholesaling recently as alternate route to create revenue to further my goals.

So I had to find alternative lenders. 

With regard to purchasing rental properties in a different state site-unseen, there are alternative methods in doing so. 

Your expectations are mostly correct... you're being quoted a portfolio HML-alternative rate that'll go to 80% LTV.

I am currently on my way home from work, driving my truck.

the additional 400-500bps in an alternative investment is nice, but not the primary consideration. 

Since this would be a specialized situation, I would use the Contact on the VA website to get the best answer, there are a lot of lenders that do VA loans but they don't specialize in them so they may not know about any fine print, or alternate paperwork not commonly used.

@Brian Reynolds,If your TSP is with the past employer - you should be able to roll it over into self-directed IRA and then invest in alternative assets such as real estate. 

LOL  now they were keen on real estate no doubt and my talk was on everything BUT rentals as Rentals are talked about ad nauseum so I make a presentation on alternative investing in the real estate space which given my career I have done a lot of .. so it was fun.. and not a pitch fest I got no business from it I just enjoyed doing it meeting those sharp young folks and thinking man is this a great company to work for..