In VA, and I would guess in every state, it is illegal to not disclose a latent defect.  ) A latent defect is defined as a fault in the property that could not have been discovered by a reasonably thorough inspection before the sale.

I guess they use comps from 2009.

As you are asking the question, I would guess that you know that a leaking oil tank can / will open up world of issues; Phase 1, Phase 2, remediation, retesting and who knows what else.You could purchase it subject to all remediation done by the seller and certification of cleanup by the fire dept / county / state (who ever has juristriction on this).Alternativley, you could be willing to invest in the testing / consultants necessary to scope the problem (with no guarrantee that they are 100% correct) and then make offer taking the results into account.Until you know the scope of the problem, you can not know the cost to fix it  so unless you have done this before and have deep pockets, making any offer is very high risk.Oren

Was hoping there was some other options out there but that’s just wishful thinking I guess.

I guess my question is as a Veteran can I use my VA loan to start my journey or should I go another route?

I'm guessing that your current employer covers insurance..

Since I'm technically borrowing 100% of the purchase price by taking the down payment from the HELOC (rather than the 75% loan against the subject property) I guess I could indicate 0% downpayment and create some sort of blended rate that represents the new 1st mortgage against the rental property and HELOC payment.

I guess I am saying, just make sure you are buying it right, which is hardly insightful advice.

@Fan Bi, I guess not :)  But don't worry, the location of your QI is not a factor that should prohibit you from completing a 1031 exchange. 

I am a Realtor so I will start with saying that you can always list your home with a Realtor, but I am guessing that you want to handle on your own so I have a few other tips.