I would closely monitor prices in your area, and as Joe said, look for a no-cost refi once you feel you have some equity.

I will definitely look into the book on flipping houses by Brandon, I've read his other numerous blogs and videos scattered across the internet and they have always been very insightful.Brandon Turner Haha I was wondering if you would notice, you have a divine capability of monitoring your forum.

Interestingly, most of the paths lead to "just monitor".Why?

Personally, I'd move on to current opportunities while monitoring this one.

@Ilhan Dahir What are some of your specific goals for your assistant and how do you monitor some of the other ones?

I always monitor auction.com for potential deals.

At any price. 2) Considering how far we are from list, what strategy would you recommend - continuing to monitor and waiting for the price to drop closer to our offer or going in and making a probably 'waste of time, but justifiable' offer complete with comps and repair estimate, just to see what(if at all) they come back with?

They monitor the VA scraping to ensure they are doing their part for us to be successful, and they have done this.

Do not make the minimum monthly payments because there is a computer algorithm that is used by the credit bureaus that monitors this so even paying a dollar above the minimum monthly payment helps your credit better than just paying the minimum.  

If you are not able to come in person then I'd suggest joining that areas facebook group or perhaps the app "next door" or something similar and monitor those posts for a couple weeks.