It sounds like you’ve got a solid plan and a great passion for real estate investing.

With comps ranging from $875K-$1M and your estimated build cost at $550K, the after-completion value gives you a significant equity cushion, making this project highly attractive to lenders.If you plan to hold and rent the property, you could refinance into a DSCR loan after construction, which bases lending on rental income rather than personal income.

I'll subto his existing mortgage and pay off the 120k.

Since you’ll be saving your own living expenses by living in one of the units as required by the VA (to the best of my knowledge.) pretend you are paying rent and it should make your numbers look much better. 

Hi Perry, getting an LLC would be smart if you plan to scale your portfolio.

We plan to renovate it ourselves and turn it into a 1200sq ft 2/1 to STR.

I plan to put a $600 utility cap in the lease.

Please clarify, how many lenders we have "signed up" and how much they "pay" for "leads".

A potential goldmine for those seeking to increase property value and generate rental income.However, navigating this opportunity requires strategic planning.

If you are accredited, the best thing to do would be to invest 50k into a syndication and soak up all the knowledge of how it works from an experienced operator before you make the decision whether it's your plan.