Our target areas for property are Kauai, San Diego, and Mystic CT.Up until now my wife and I have purchased and sold two homes utilizing VA benefits for a small profit and recently went into a small under budget rental in hopes of purchaseing a rental property.

Continue to utilize the forums.

Can we lower utility costs with energy efficient fixes?

In other words you receive a 30% tax credit on the solar system as well as a 30% tax credit at the least on the roof that is under the solar system (full roof 30% depends on the advice of your CPA).Couple that with the roof now becoming a producing asset and offsetting the utility bill instead of a liability and the increase in appraised home value assuming the solar system is not leased then going solar makes a lot of sense at the same time as replacing/repairing a roof.So in short you don't "get a roof if you go solar", but there are certainly advantages to adding solar to a roof replacement.

Always make sure utility wise you have that all buttoned up as that hurts your noi.

The problem would be getting them to commit and look at this, I know a lot of management firms utilize these deposits for extra revenue but they need to be fair and give you every opportunity to correct. 

Zoning, what utilities are in place or are available, easements, views,  and what a buyer would intend to use the property for are all important factors. 

Presently I work full time at Wal-Mart as a Maintenance Supervisor and wish to be able to earn a self sustaining income through real estate so that I can retire my 9 to 5 job, be my own boss and have time to travel with my wife and enjoy life.                            

Make sure you run the numbers for what new construction residences are going for, and subtract out construction costs, cost to install utilities, developer profit, etc, and you can get an idea of what a developer would pay for the lots. 

My intent is to do some rehab, increase cash flow (rents, utilities, etc) and resell in 12-18 months.