(Not that they actually set mortgage rates - but they influence them.)You now know that as you look at 2/1 houses that anything priced near or above $145,000 isn’t worth pursuing in the short term… so you look for ones that are cheaper than that.  

It really depends on what strategy your trying to implement as some areas are better for STR/MTR then long term and vice versa.

@Jay Hines I'm not sure that's how people would refer to wholesaling in terms of an investment strategy. 

I recently closed my first conventionally funded investment property in Milwaukee, so currently I don’t have the funds to just run a conventional loan “house hack”.I have submitted pre approval requests to 4-5 VA loan-friendly lenders and each one is denied for the same reason as the last...

With the hefty down I'd aim for a lower I/O rate of 5-6%..Conventional terms would be in the high 8%'s.

I’ve been pre approved for both, and look to start my construction journey in a few months.  

I've only had short term guests through VRBO and did not have require background checks.

It would fix your cash flow problem, but that comes with the furnishing expenses and a little more work than long term rent. 

After a quick Home Depot search and a pre-Fourth of July sale I saw a similar model that was selling for $1100.

Makes sense since those that are on the market can be found more easily, although even with them, there’s still a lot of improvement to be made in terms of how we can find/filter them.