Can't speak to the rookie program comment, as I don't want to make assumptions.

The trade off sounds nice, but I think there are a few assumptions being made - for example - that the house will be rented all the time, that no evictions will need to be filed, that no repairs come up, or that a tenant doesn't just trash the place overall. 

I'm making assumptions that by "newbie", you mean no deals done.  

If owner recently slammed tenants in and is making wild number assumptions to sell then might be best to walk away.

That in itself will be a valuable skill-set for you, later on when all that BAH you saved up is now a down payment or a reno budget.As earlier mentioned, I was under the impression that this GI Bill BAH dynamic was common knowledge among veterans, but I recently came across something causing me to doubt this assumption, so here you are.

Any buyer will do it and the (fair or not) assumption will be that your estimates are a bit "rosy".

I am under the assumption that only strict investment property qualifies for 1031.

The above are just some straight forward answers with assumptions on your situation however if you change your context or situation your lending scenario/answer also can be drastically different as well.

Get with a really good land use planner in the county or whatever jurisdiction your in.. and or civil engineering firm they have probably already been approached.. the first thing I do when I look at this type of stuff that is in an area I am not familiar with I pay a civil that has a land use component in their office for a due diligence package Usually around 8 to 10k.. and since there is a milske on the line probably not a bad use of 10k to figure out what your getting into... all us in the peanut gallery of BP and the internet can make assumptions but what do we really know.. not a lot really..

I never sell, unless my original investment thesis or assumptions end up being wrong OR the neighborhood changes and I'm unable to attract quality tenants.And, more often than not, unless the fees are super high...HOAs are a good thing.