My mother took over the delinquent tax payments in order to save her childhood home for sentimental reasons.

Retirement accounts are designed to provide you with benefits at retirement, not prior to retirement.

That would save me money in the short-term but it wouldn't give me anything in the long term. 

For my husband and I to retire early (Ok--- mostly my husband since I am a SAHM) and just make REI our/my full time job.

I have a about $2k saved so far and I want to get started investing.

You will be surprised how much money you could save buying existing.

You’ll look back one day when you’re ready to buy a multi-family with a normal conventional loan, 20-25% down payment, and thank yourself for saving tens of thousands of dollars having used your VA loan for the first couple. 

@Davey DavanoskiYou don't really pay yourself.Flips are different, the profits go towards your income.Rental properties generate passive income, but if you're looking to retire from a day job it's not usually possible for the average person owning 1 or 2 properties.As an example let's say you have a target goal of $300 positive cash flow to consider an investment.

The only saving grace is that on the blocks I am purchasing, the homes are still habitable.We have been contacted by a seller in Wallace NC.

I've read about possibly saving up $20,000 for a down payment on a loan and also read about partnering with people to have a bigger down payment for a bigger loan.