I talked to a modular home company in my area, and he said to build a 4 / 2.5 2200 square foot home would be 215k, and then foundation and utilities would be another 160k.

Utilizing the VA loan is a good first step in terms of investing.

My wife not comfortable putting our house as equity, therefore we are utilizing other options to fund investment properties. 

I would also try to minimize expenses through decreasing cleaning costs, installing smart tech like a thermostat to control utility costs, etc.5.

Out of that voucher amount, they will have a utility and appliance work sheet that provides a cost for each utility or appliance not provided by a landlord for each bedroom size.

Did you have taxable income that could’ve been reduced utilizing tax strategies?

As noted above, up to 50% of gross rental income normally gets eaten up by expenses (taxes, management fees, utilities, landscaping, repairs, capex, etc).

Now purchasing a home with cash is always good b/c obviously cash is king but also I think the part you might've missed is that, the money your utilizing on these home's won't actually be yours, but the banks or whatever institution you used to fix the home or make its value worth more.

I am NET cash flowing just over 1k (includes maintenance, repairs, cap-ex, vacancies, utilities), which is pretty good considering this is in SoCal.

Utilize tools like BiggerPockets for resources and calculators, and consider creating a simple spreadsheet to track property details, budgets, and timelines.