In retrospect we got lucky because the VA approved it even though it was basically a cosmetic gutter with great bones and a FANTASTIC neighborhood.My husband and i completely fixed it up with a little family help in the beginning.

From the time we finally got the p&l from the seller and submitted the file it took 3 days to get the loan approved.  

Just because you can get approved for a huge loan to upgrade your personal house doesn't mean that you have to max that out. :)

What do they need in order to approve a loan? 

Many banks won't approve a short-sale to an entity.

In my markets, there are more tenants then rentals so we can pick the cream of the crop (over 15 applications in 4 hours from a sign in the yard, had three approved tenants from that batch, picked the best one).As time goes on, your screening process will develop, the markers in your application will throw up flags for you.  

I sometimes approve people on the spot after I check their rental and criminal history on my phone.I usually avoid carpet because it usually doesn't last long inside a rental.If the house isn't rented after a couple of months and there has been little or no interest, you will probably have to lower the price.

If you tacitly approve of him being there, that can be interpreted as legal approval for residency, but possibly not for seeking a judgement against him.   

I've been laid off (again) for 3 months now and have been getting approval from pinelands and township for demolition of the house and just the other day was approached by a guy.

Bill thank you for reply,We are not really looking for a hard money here, we have our own reserves which we could use with a bank loan approved at 5%.