That's a tough way to make a living man.I agree 3 to meetings a week is ridiculous number one when you are sober and you have to find a job you don't have any money you don't have any resources and in certain recovery houses they make you get up at a certain time in the morning and leave the house to go find a job and you have to be gone for so many hours just trying to go find a job I've done these programs going to meetings and constantly talking about drugs and alcohol and listening to people's stories is I think half of the reason why people go back to using I went to an AA or NA rodeo one day on a Saturday and for 5 hours all they did was have people get up there and tell their sob story about addiction and about that lifestyle it depressed me it showed me how not to run a sober house how to not run a halfway house The halfway house is a joke because they have you leave the house by 8:00 or 9:00 in the morning and give you no guidance give you no help give you nothing to get you to where you going to be and really help you get a job I was in a position where I was in Pennsylvania and a halfway house that made you leave by 9:00 in the morning and you can come back until 4:00 or 5:00 in the afternoon I had no money I had no phone I had basically no resources and no knowledge of where I was even at I stayed sober thank God I went to meetings but sometimes I couldn't get to a meeting that they required because I had no way of getting there in the time of night that they had the meetings and after being gone all day trying to find a job it was a ridiculous self-sabotaging program then I got in touch with another program and they suggested a sober house because I would have more leeway unless restrictions and by the way at the recovery house halfway house that I was at My last night there or the second to the last night that I was there One of the roommates was doing heroin the whole night in and out of the bathroom up and down and it was very distracting and nobody said anything I didn't get any sleep because she was up and down the whole night and I knew what she was doing I felt her energy The 12-step program the AA program is not a bad program but it didn't help me stay sober I kept myself sober personally if I had a halfway house or a sober house I would require only one meeting per week but I would also require an hour everyday of journaling and some kind of education as far as to their goals and and to their plan of action and dreams and desires I would do a totally different program because I've been in that position if I would have kept going to meetings and doing that kind of program I would have began using again the sober house doesn't require 10,000 meetings it's too much for a person and it only puts your mind in a mentality and the thought to use again and the desire and the trigger...

Ability to pay, do they pay, have they saved?

We plan on doing more flips and adding to our hood portfolio even more over the next year. 

We would plan to “live and flip” (live in it for 2 years to avoid capital gains) while we rent our current home. 

I've included an example below to help illustrate this.So different lenders have different rates (which do vary even for DSCR loans) but these are factors they all consider.See example below:DSCR < 1Principal + Interest = $1,700Taxes = $350, Insurance = $100, Association Dues = $50Total PITIA = $2200Rent = $2000DSCR = Rent/PITIA = 2000/2200 = 0.91Since the DSCR is 0.91, we know the expenses are greater than the income of the property.DSCR >1Principal + Interest = $1,500Taxes = $250, Insurance = $100, Association Dues = $25Total PITIA = $1875 Rent = $2300DSCR = Rent/PITIA = 2300/1875 = 1.23If a purchase, you also generally need reserves / savings to show you have 3-6 month payments of PITIA (principal / interest (mortgage payment), property taxes and insurance and HOA (if applicable).

My husband and I are the employers and we have employees in our plan with their own accounts.

Now the last tree I had removed was 5 years ago and the arborist took it to a friends house that has a mill where he was planning on milling the tree into oak flooring for a house he was building.My question is should I bother trying to get some value out of this tree one way or another?

I am planning on using a VA loan.

- Do we not even consider pulling the equity and just continue to build our savings for the down payment?

Then decide on your plan of action.....