Full disclosure: I am also a Fed employee working and not getting paid and I was grateful for the compassion and  flexibility my lending institutions showed me.

We would both be working our current jobs which give us very flexible schedules and plan to start with just one property at a time for the fist 3-4 and then the sky is the limit!

Their are a few different options for taxation with an LLC structure, which allows some flexibility when bringing in partners.

Now if you got capital and you can find 3-4k used homes, rehab them and put them on the vacant lots well now you have more flexibility in the capital resource department to scale at a pace you can afford.  

Found a good job that had benefits, and flexible schedule while I also learned the trades.

Local lenders are typically the most flexible and will work with buyers, even if you hit a wrinkle - and almost every deal has one or two.

I just had to be flexible in how I could earn a living at it (and use the money I was making to fund my retirement and taxed accounts to build wealth).

I prefer a HELOC to cash out re-fi due to the flexibility it offers and having access to pull money out or put it back into account to avoid interest charges. 

@Lara Taylor a HELOC on your current residence WOULD work - you can spend HELOC money any way that you please - that's what makes it so flexible.

They often hold their mortgages in house, don't have to conform to F/F rules, and therefore have a lot more flexibility.