I recommend staying away from bad areas and focusing on somewhere where your long term exit strategy will play out.

Otherwise if you call and just say that you are confirming the showing they may just play dumb and go along, then not show up anyway.

No, I'm not in CO but I do know the power of those signs. 

Understood that some people will recommend starting out in SFH, however the idea of buying right, forcing appreciation through strategically increasing the NOI, and refy-ing out capital that can be used in future investments plays to my personal strengths and feels like the right strategy for me to pursue.

In such cases, the veteran's 0% down purchasing power is indeed artificially constrained by the loan limits. 

I know there are many variable that come into play. 

We're not playing with Monopoly money here - - be cautious. 

However, a quick call to your local lenders (and I do mean lenders, call up half a dozen or so for an overview of your region) should be able to answer that question.I will say, for the path that I outlined above and with your goal of quickly scaling up to large multifamily properties, the limit on the number of loans you can hold should not come into play as your purpose for buying them is not to build an extensive portfolio, but to gain hands-on experience.

The brokerage can play a huge part in the success or failure of an agent.

You have all the power now so take your time.