One of the best hacks if you have limited cash is to buy a primary residence with up to 4 units.  

This should be your primary concern.

Lastly, you won't be able to HELOC (or any cash-out equity) and 2-4 unit property in TX while it is still your primary residence.

Or buy a 5bed/3bath house, live in the primary suite and rent the other spaces out.

In some cases, after crunching the numbers, the profit margin was so slim—or even negative—that I had to pass on some promising opportunities.Here’s my situation: I currently own two properties—a primary residence and a rental property—both of which have substantial equity.

It would be a primary residence.

Best advice to you would be to use that VA loan as many times as you can and buy primary residences for a year, rent them out and then buy something else with the VA!

Hi Juliet,If you have a US primary address and good US FICO, you should be able to get full LTV (80%) with rates on-par with US citizens with the right lender/broker.

Pantry is a must in most plans as is a soaking tub in primary . 

Your primary strategy should be to have the Contractor and all Subcontractors add you to their insurance policy as Additional Insured.