The strategy that most will talk about in these forums that you can combine with the VA loan is called house-hacking which means you rent out other rooms if a single family or the other units if a multi unit and you basically have the renters paying your mortgage for you.

We were not able to view the property before hand but did have pictures and a assessment of the property to go off of.When we finally closed and went inside to look it over and get a plan together, we noticed that the paint was peeling (the LR and hallway are a lime green and every other room in the house is a different color) in just about every room.

ok so that is just 1 grand off.. ok then how about 4.5 grand?

My focus as a real estate investor is on wholesales and flips with room for growth.

However the Journal Square and Heights areas still have room to run. 

Interesting situation: have 3 rooms rented on the 2nd floor of a jersey city 2 family house, tenants started attacking me the landlord after 1-2 months of living in apt, claiming its a rooming house etc, withholding rent.

That $20K can go further if you are living in the home and rent out a part of the house whether it is another unit or rooms.

House hacking is what the rich kids used to get income in college when their parents purchased the house to rent out rooms while going to college but there are many other forms.  

My plan is to purchase either a single family with the idea of renting one of the rooms to help cut down my mortgage payment.

Typically furniture would be an asset depreciated over a number of years... but when you buy a dining room table from Goodwill for $35, is that something that could immediately be written off, or would it still be depreciated due to its category of being furniture.