I'd also suggest looking into house-hacking for your first deal.But if/when you decide to invest out of state, building your core 4 will be fundamental to your success, https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/core-four-real-estate-tea...

Interested in flipping a home that would qualify based on HERS rating + energy savings and would like to partner with a lender to market the property as eligible for EEM.

If this is a long-term rental (LTR) and you make > $150,000 per year you aren’t eligible to offset non-passive income (W-2, 1099, etc.) with losses from your rental - they get carried forward into future years until you can use them OR reduce capital gains on saleThis is called the 1031 Exchange.

Having good credit and verifiable income to support debt to income ratios is what is needed for eligibility. 

The seller is willing to abandon their VA eligibility so that a new buyer does not need to be a Veteran, but does need to qualify based off of full income documentation and have $250K+/- plus closings costs. 

Once you determine what lender you want to work with, find your realtor and refine your buy box based on what will be eligible for your lender.

And by doing that, would we be eligible for the lower down payment requirements rather than needing the 20-25% for an investment property?

Flip income ("Real Estate Dealer") is classified as ordinary income and as a result not eligible for the Section 121 Exclusion.

(And best case it was a rental for 17 years then a primary for 3, making only 15% possibly eligible.)Personally, if you and he are both 100% sure of the facts I would first reach out to a qualified intermediary (a person who handles 1031’s).

We host a STR focused hot sheet that at presents shows 100+ active or eligible STR's listed for sale- Exclusivity & Trajectory: As popular as STR's are, there really aren't that many (homes in general) on the Oregon Coast.