Reason for VA: no down payment except for the funding fee, and I would have cash available for REI's.

Do not make any exceptions whatsoever.  

I told him to give them an offer of $96k half hoping they wouldn’t except, because that would drain all my savings for the down payment.

Fyi, the exception is a loan amount above $6MM+. 

You are almost living for free ($1500/mt - $1100/mt = $400/mt), except the headaches from renting or effort you put into your AirBnB rental.7.

Others chose to increase density in each property by making the bedroom guideline two people per bedroom no matter what (with the exception of a medical exception), instead of separating the sexes and giving the voucher holder their own bedroom like they had in the past.  

My experience has been :-The first 90 days on the market they will only except full price offers -Price reductions are very minimal and usually under 5%-They will not pay any closing costs or pay for a survey

There may be exceptions to this....I AM NOT an attorney and you should consult one to make sure you do not engage in prohibited transactions.

I'm signed up with over 20 sites including FCI to purchase NPNs in MN only and none of them have the notes for sale in MN (except 1 in central MN that is overpriced by 50k)

VA loans are only for owner occupants, with a few exceptions for active duty folks deploying etc.