It's a smart way to reduce or even eliminate your own living expenses while gaining investment experience.

I would estimate that if a manager was to provide this service only, they would charge a bit more as they would not be receiving continual income over the life of the lease.Feel free to reach out if you want to discuss some options that I may provide. 

It takes time to build an income you can live off.

If a lot are empty you may not get that monthly income for some time.

We have in effect done a pocket veto as we have not responded, but I plan on responding indicating we need above LTR rates otherwise we can just switch to LTR increasing our revenue due to reduced expenses.  

DSCR loans won't use your income to underwrite the loan.DSCR loans are based off of down payment, credit score and either actual or market rents so it helps to supercharge an investor's real estate goals and net worth.Here's a bit more in detail about how rates are calculated for DSCR loans:1.

(It is more costly though)     I gave my cpa my income & expenses per property he said that’s not enough.  

It's now 5% and the rental income from other units counts toward the underwriting.

I have a prospective tenant who submitted income from the VA but I am not sure how to verify this income.

You have to be careful on taking this decision.Problems to solve:- Reduce vacancy.- Improve in property management.Then you can think on expanding your portfolio.A good investor would need to have the hands on the ground to make sure that they understand what is going on.