Applicant must be a non-smoker.

Along with a rental checklist that states how much will be charged for each burnt out lightbulb and how much for oven cleaning etc.

Go over and clean the condensate line , takes about 5 minutes 

If I was running another option on this deal, I'd adjust the interest rate to 5.5-6%, put 20% down, include $5-6,000 in initial repair (even if that's just cleaning and painting), reduce the monthly expenses to 8%, include PMI at $100/mo and then see where that lands you.

Not sure about NY, but in PA, pet deposits are non-refundable to the tenant.

The worse thing you can do is force a non-paying tenant to remain in your property. 

With her hard work and additional income, we recently refi'd the house to clean up most of the divorce debt.

My crazy idea is to cash out refinance the loan to a non-VA loan as soon as possible (ideally before living there for one year).

The airline pays laundry and cleaning and I pick up the utilities, maintenance and lawn care.

I’m not sure if this has been posted here before, but wanted to briefly share this information we found out regarding FHA. As a military member we have exceptions to the normal occupancy rule. Check it out:

“FHA loan...