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.

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.

A checkbook IRA is nearly identical as an investment vehicle.  

If you're worried about thieves who target unoccupied properties, get a cheap wireless alarm that can be moved later i.e.

Or maybe look for the true identity of rich dad ;) 

I have seen a case where an investor purchased several substantially identical SFR properties at one time and had a cost segregation study performed on one and then simply leveraged that single study across all of them - maybe that makes sense.

These homes then became the targets of thieves and vandals lowering values to a fraction of their original worth.If homeowners have substantial equity in their homes they are not likely to default in a small downturn, at least not until the market falls below their equity.

She claims that it was due to identity theft issues.

One of the properties has been on the market for 5 months and the other 2 months, both are identical specs.  

Never give out financial information or identity metrics at one of these events.