So we waited 3 days over a weekend to talk to the loan officer to make sure that what I wanted to do(put 1% down for earnest money and roll the closing fees into the loan) was possible however, when the loan officer finally said it was alright, we tried to put in the offer and found out the seller had accepted another offer that day.Am I just trying to do things with a VA loan that aren't possible?

Many of the regs concerning OZs were rolled out on an on going basis. 

Wife pushed us to buy as a primary residence during residency.

If its over 20k it would be pushing it... 

Maybe the sewer is not vented properly and gases are pushing back into the homes?

I'm sure I'm going to get push back eventually on the aggressive breed and 50lb restriction being discrimination, but luckily our area is much slower to catch up to these ridiculous trends.I obviously prefer tenants without animals, but it's to the point where everyone has something, so now we just turn it into a revenue source$25/month per pet + $200-$300 non refundable fee.We enforce quiet enjoyment pretty aggressively. 

Listing agent is gonna push for you.

This is usually the case with the tax roll not keeping up with appreciation.

Something has helped me exponentially, is pushing myself away from the seller slowly and professionally.

I don't want to push back if I am not recalling/interperting correctly.