I have seen the good and the bad, I have watched some of the biggest names here in Indy get started and have helped most of them in some form or fashion. 

For out-of-state investing, one of the biggest tips is building a solid local team—an agent, contractor, and property manager you can trust is key.

Biggest thing is adjust pricing appropriately. 

Biggest pati le is getting approved from VA and bringing property up to regulation.

All this to say starting is the biggest, hardest, most important step.

Your biggest issue with 5 bedrooms is that 50% of your income is going towards the mortgage, I do not believe banks would even lend to you with a DTI above 40-45 (mortgage + other debts).

The biggest correlation is interest rates, but that is not the only factor that indicates a strong flip market. 

The biggest mistake I made in my RE investing career early on was being so conservative that I only bought homes for cash, i.e.

Your biggest asset, in my opinion, is that your husband is a contractor and can run the jobs himself.

Thank you so much @Greg O'Brien, I just bookmarked this thread, I stayed up until 2am last night trying to find answers to this, confused by different professional opinions and IRS publications.I'm trying to use STRs (rented out 7 days or less with no substantial services provided in which I materially participate) to reduce my W2 liabilities and my biggest concern was if doing this will trigger Self Employment taxes.If I understood correctly, in this situation I can use depreciation losses as active against other active income (which is what I want).