My main concern is that we will have to take a step back or a pause in investing but want to eventually upgrade housing.  

@Mary Jay I empathize totally with your sentiments about your job, you wouldn't believe me if I told you the story of my last one, but you have to hit pause for a minute because you're all over the place.What I'm hearing you say is that you want to quit your job so you can go do something else/better... in order to do that you need to have other resources and income. 

I need to pause here and vent about the demeaning posture of this gentleman.

I will say that, when you start to see smart investors changinging their investing philosphy to make deals work, it gives me pause. 

Hey guys, so I got out of the army not too long ago and get about 2k a month while attending school from the Montgomery GI bill, the only problem is that this income does not count at all when applying for a home loan...

How bout this, everyone commenting on this topic, pause MSNBC and send this topic link to 3 of your "preferred" lenders and Mortgage Brokers and tell them I'm ask them to join the discussion. 

@Steve Vaughan, pause MSNBC and research:LENDER CREDIT LENDER TO BORROWER CREDIT LENDER CREDIT TO BORROWER etc.If you ever do need a mortgage loan, it's a way for borrower's to minimize their out of pocket costs by choosing a higher rate and receiving a Lender Credit.Yankee Sierra Foxtrot India! 

I want to pause here for a second for a deeper dive on everything I just touched on.

However, this is giving me pause since I'm sure W2's as income verification would be required, hence the same position as not being able to refinance.

Then I pause until he answers.