First time posting here.

We purchased the property using a VA loan intending on living in it for a long time.

Some pay rent on time and some do not.

One pitfall of a RE Pro spouse if you are full-time W-2." ?

Affordable first time family homes. 

This is hard(er) to sell to folks who are stroking one big check just to fund the whole thing, but easier to sell to 100/1000 people who are funding one little piece of the deal. - Banks only stay in business by seriously mitigating risk, especially in the world of commercial loans where they may hold all of the paper.

When starting out, I think you should at least be able to get to your property several times within the first couple of years to en reasonable amousure everything is set up and functioning properly.

yeah, i have been spending time on YouTube doing that.  

Go to any of the large, national hard money lenders, including the ones which advertise here on BP.

How did you know they were the right one?