Real estate investments, other than buy-and-hold, do not benefit from real estate tax shields.If you're going to pursue RE investing within the plan, you must have adequate "reserves" within the plan to cover unforeseen expensesThose are some of the considerations. 

You can add cash from your own reserves. 

He’s an excellent marketer and he will convince you not to trust negative reviews but we have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars. 300+ investors (without exaggeration) have been dealing with the Morris Invest nightmare.Stay away from:Morris InvestClayton/natali Morris Oceanpointe/OceanpointBlue skyBert WhalenI urge you to contact property management companies in Indiana (Wilmoth Group, BHB, etc...) and Jacksonville, FL to confirm my statement if you’d like.They’ve all heard about the huge scam and the big Morris Invest mafia and have inherited hundreds of investors with properties that were never rehabbed, squatters, no utilities, etc etc..I’ll send you more info directly.

That has been one of the things that I struggle with, how do I go from 1-3-5 without having buckets of cash in the bank for down payments, reserves etc

Very helpful - thank you @Craig Curelop and @Chris MasonIt looks like the lenders are baking taxes and insurance into the closing costs - as "prepaid items / reserves" - which amount to around $2000.The actual "closing costs" themselves amount to $5500 for a loan with 1 point - which includes title fees, state tax, processing, underwriting, appraisal fees, etc.Sounds like it can't hurt to do a bit more shopping but I definitely feel better that these costs are more in line with what's to be expected.

You confirmed what I have been hearing by the few connections I have over there.

Personally, if I had sufficient reserves and there was enough cushion in the deal to allow for a rent drop, I'd feel comfortable using my home equity as a downpayment. 

House hacking with a VA loan is a good place to start, just make sure you have enough cash set aside in reserves for those emergency repairs.

I have looked myself and brought our guys to confirm budget on the wall repair.I have been looking and analyzing deals for a few months, and the numbers seem to work pretty well on this even though it needs a ton of updating.

My question for those who have done this is: What tools did you use to confirm that the contractor did not pad any of the costs?