I've noticed a semi shift in the bigger lenders, tighter credit boxes and higher down payments to hedge.

Depends greatly on the inspector.My inspector is a (wonderfully) grumpy old man, former Georgia Tech with a wealth of experience, who knows how to look for key issues like water damage or shifting foundation.  

We also have a very low cost of living (probably because the weather sucks and nobody wants to live here) but if you can tolerate 45 degree shifts in temperature in a 24 hour period you'll love it here!

The downside is that it shifts overtime but I would always err to get a property to self-support so I don't have to come out-of-pocket for cap-ex.

Perhaps it might help to shift your marketing strategy. 

greetings everyoneVA streamline and using 2nd tier entitlement, im thinking of doing a va streamline refi on my duplex, then purchase a 4 plex, is there a length of time i have to wait to make these 2 transaction. or should i do one before the other?

Been using LED fixtures in our student houses for 5+ years ... students are renown for never buying light bulbs - they just shift them from one fixture to another until the end of they year, then you get your house/flat back with 50 - 75% of the bulbs gone.We also made a conscious effort to replace lights in all our common areas and in hard-to-reach places (i.e. over stairwells) in our multi-unit buildings with LED fixtures.Now, whenever we renovate a unit/house, 95% of our replacement fixtures are LED.  

You become a target for unscrupulous legal attacks, you risk a major loss when the market shifts, you will receive a very low return on your cash as the equity grows. 

If you are doing a streamlined 203k <$35,000 that may make the difference.

The property didn't move so we shifted strategies and are now planning to rent and refi.