If I was inexperienced it would be about 60$/sqft... usually rehabs are 50-75$/sqft, this means full gut rehabs or just regular rehabs.

I was pre-approved before I shopped around and I was in regular contact with my lender.

How do you charge for the regular watering that it will require until established?

If you put a conventional loan offer and VA loan offer that are otherwise identical in every other way in front of a seller in the Austin area, I would expect the conventional offer to win almost every time.

When I got my first Airbnb going I just put short term rental insurance through my regular home owners insurance.

But a reverse improvement exchange will run you $4000 - $5000 more than a regular exchange.  

I actually just read an article to inform myself and it seems that banks use more than 1 method to determine the value of a property such as this one.1) They compare to other similar buildings2) They calculate how much it would cost to build an identical building3) They use the revenus and expenses (this method gives the lowest result)Perhaps my real estate agent was considering some of the other methods and took into account it's amazing location and the actual municipal valuation.

It should be between a certain amount however over time it will drop and you have to refill, if it drops very regularly however you may have to replace

Matthew, I suggest you just open regular IRA at Vanguard and invest into one of their index funds, maximize your contributions for the next few years and once you have a sizable amount then you can reconsider SD IRA.  

Also when you track it on a regular basis you can see how long something is sitting and track any price changes as they are happening.