As @Dan H. has stated building and ADU can take a while to pay off and could affect the appreciation on the exit sale without a garage which could limit your sales to another investor. 

Purchase price: $550,000 Cash invested: $145,000 Sale price: $915,000 This was a home run for a long term (5 years) buy & hold investment property (I specialize in this area). - Initial investment of $145K (DP+closing)- It had one tenant for 5 years and 3 months (no turnover), and the tenant paid off the mortgage and expenses in those 5 years.- I spent around $30K to do upgrades before selling.- Sold it for $915K after 5.5 years (received $442K at the closing)- Did 1031 exchange and bought 8 SFH in NE & AL worth of 1.6M (brings $4k/months income now) What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Purchase price: $850,000 Cash invested: $500,000 Sale price: $2,250,000 Purchased , knocked down, built new from ground up What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Totally free, not for sale.

From what I remember, and what I'm reading online right now, electric heat can cost 3x as much as natural gas.

The average sales price in Cleveland Heights for MF in the last 6 months is $337k. 

When researching online, it looks there are some instances where non-vets can assume VA loans, but the veteran's entitlement would remain tied to the loan.How common is this and are there ever situations when this a win-win for both sides?

You can't actually pay it off directly because they've been securitized, and the people who invested in those securities did so because of the specific certainty of the payment schedule.What you do in a defeasance is use the proceeds of the sale or the funds from your new lender to purchase treasury bonds that are packaged to make the exact payment amounts and timings on the remaining term of the loan, and then assign those bonds to your old lender.

Here are some key strategies to consider:*Invest in Distressed Properties – The best deals for investors often come in foreclosures, short sales, and older homes in need of renovation.

I learned this when I bought 12 new builds for GOZONE tax bene's really nice brick homes in best part of town but values just did not rise enough so by the time i had to change everything out and pay sales commish it was break even at best..