A VA loan is marketed to people who are broke and CAN"T put any money down because they have none to put down.  

I am on a real estate journey to grow and obtain a potent Real Estate Portfolio.

Selling makes agents money and the IRS if you don''t 1031, it's almost always better to re-leverage instead.

I know this next part isn´t popular in the STR world, but..

https://app.tango.us/app/workflow/BiggerPockets-free-Short-T...The only way to truly stay up to date on your local rules is to pay attention to your local county/city council meetings and how you can participate.

If they don;t sell they will be in a heap of trouble.

While this is municipality dependent, if the contractor is not licensed you likely cannot obtain the necessary permits and approvals.

Otherwise, you will give another agent all of your future commissions and/or you will have to retake the salesperson exam to obtain your license again.

The collateral is so so and some have preferences such as certain asset classes they will invest in, but generally speaking, you can obtain an equity deal with very little skin in the game. 

If possible, in the future I would try to obtain a copy of a standard Condo questionnaire from the HOA prior to the mortgage application process and ask your lender to review it in advance in order to mitigate some of the time and costs risks associated.