This would entail a 12yr loan (just enough property CF to put all of it towards my contingency fund), put all of my savings towards paying down the remaining principal.

The VA IRRRL principal still counts against your original entitlement, so max entitlement for the area - (va irrl principal) = remaining entitlement.

The guy was really pushy asking for my credit card number to charge $500 as part of the $5K as the rest of the closing costs would be factored into the loan principal.

Location is in Texas.I was given these rates for today:3.437% is costing 1.875%- $3000- Principal/Interest: $7134.125% is costing 1.25%- $2000- Principal/Interest: $7754.75% is costing .125%- $200 - Principal/Interest: $835Can someone help show me a formula on how to determine if it's worth to buy the points and how long should I keep the house for it to be worth it?

Excited to see the benefits of principal pay down, depreciation, cash flow, and appreciation.

Originally posted by @Pedro Sanchez:just asking For rentals, they will look at your cashflow before depreciation and one time expenses.They will add back the principal payments to get your actual cashflow as tax returns don’t include principal payment as deductions. 

It's the fastest way of losing money- Investing in direct REI at least you know you will not losing principal- For OOS, result is hit or miss, but for long term you will not lose the princial although you may not hitting the advertised target.

At the moment I am a principal in over 230 front doors and counting.You will most likely not like my answer here.  

I’ve had other issues between my principal and interest and the bank is working on rectifying it.

After calculating the principal and interest, taxes, insurance and other fixed expspenses he applies 5% to repairs and maintenance, 5% to vacancy, 5% to capital expenditures,  and 10% to property management.