I've got about $525K in equity in the property, but lenders have told me that I cannot get a HELOC to access that equity for additional purchases because the duplex was financed as an investment - they have said TX law dictates that HELOC can only be used on primary residences.

I have 25 others that I have read and are valuable.

In addition to offering "cash for keys" assure them that they can use you as a referral on their next tenant application, or offer them a short term-2 month lease.

Additional costs will creep in and costs seem to go up faster than rents, so I would sell and try to otherwise optimize the VA loan. 

In addition to just posting your property on furnished finder, they were reaching out and building connections with hospital HR departments and recruiters to help place nurses in properties.

My goal is to find off-market opportunities and present quality leads that fit the needs of active investors.Since I’m working remotely, I’d love to hear from experienced investors:What makes a remote bird-dogging service most valuable to you?

I agree with the others here that say you need to have some skin in the game, if you are going to live there yourself, get an FHA loan rather than owner financing, you can get a 3.5% down loan, personally I do not love these as they require  PMI which is an additional expense, and you also need  bring additional funds for closing at least for taxes, title, attorney and transfer fees . borrowing from anyone else for the down payment, to include a personal loan from the bank is not a good idea, those again will be higher int. rate.

In addition I heard that is better having one LLC for each property and one for management only.

I pull permits for removal of load bearing walls, addition of bathrooms or bedrooms, addition of footage.

Very communicative, hands on, and thorough with their property management.As some additional context, I own a few rentals in different markets and Michele's team is top notch compared to them.