With this in mind, what success have you had in obtaining 1-3 years of operating statements BEFORE moving forward with placing a property under contract?  

In addition to the basic restoration criteria outlined above, a veteran may obtain restoration of the entitlement used on a prior VA loan under any of the following circumstances: the prior VA loan has been paid in full and the veteran has made application for a refinance loan to be secured by the same property which secured the prior VA loan.

A list of encumbrances on a property's title can also be found in the land registry.A list of building permits, work orders / code violations can often be obtained from a City or Municipality though an access to information request.  

These are co-owned by the managers, and were obtained at their costs.  

Which ever list was the most difficult to obtain is the list I would target!

But there also was no title company that obtained an affidavit of title from the previous owner, previous owner could've owned a contiguous lot that was an issue, been prevented from selling your lot by deed restriction, or easement, there could have been fraud or forgery or someone that claimed to be the manager of a company or an executor of an estate...or how about if a seller sells to you and sells the same property to another buyer, he takes both of your money and too bad if you don't get recorded first (I actually handled a major litigation when I was clerking in law school about that.

He has obtained so much business that he cannot handle all the lawns by himself (lots of foreclosures in Wichita, KS).

I obviously intend on staying put for a long while, so am debating between obtaining a lease or purchasing a space. 

House appreciates to $500k in 10 years(so IO option only own 25% still, fixed rate likely own +10% more so 35%).Correct me if I'm wrong or if my math is way off, but these are your four options using just P&I no taxes & ins for simpler math.Pay 10 years of IO @ 9%($2,250/mo) + 20 years fixed rate at 9% on 300k, no refi($2,700/mo)Pay 10 years of IO @ 9%($2,250/mo)+ 30 years fixed rate at 5% on 375k(75%LTV), $25k cash aside if refi(2,000/mo)Pay 10 years of fixed rate conv at 9% on 300k(2,400/mo) + 30 years of fixed rate at 5% on 325k(65% LTV), $75k cash aside if refi($1,750mo)Pay 30 years of fixed rate conv at 9% on 300k($2,400/mo)Let's simplify this and just use 2 scenarios for a $100k property:  Scenario 1) you pay $100k all cash for a property and Scenario 2) you obtain a $75k loan with 30 year interest-only terms (no principal payment for 30 yrs).

This will increase the return above what can be obtained on a passive investment.