Most agents are thinking retail price for primary residence when setting a sale price.

I'm technically newly self employed so I don't qualify for traditional financing through a mortgage company.

All non resident aliens must file and pay state and federal taxes on business income.

So use the rates you see published as a guide and then find a bank or mortgage broker to talk to about your individual situation to see what sort of rate you can qualify for. 

The other problem was, any decent renter could,  and would qualify for their own  mortgage.

We really do not want to have to live in the residence for a set period of time before we can flip. 

I have a great deal of knowledge about my market if anyone was in fact interested and had the capital to invest that I can certainly share, as I'd love to network with those that reside in VA and those that do invest out of state.

I do own a personal residence in Castaic.

Some are just on one project.If you had $600,000 in your qualified retirement plan, you wouldn't put it all into Amazon stock, would you?

Get your financing figured out so you can submit an approval loan letter with your offers just make sure they include how long it will take to close and the maximum amount you qualified for.Do not try to do everything yourself.