Knowing how much labor was involved I would say it could easily have been $8-10k in labor had I hired it out.

Josh and Brandon do a good job of describing what is in each podcast so you can fairly easily weed out strategies that either don't appeal to you or are more advanced than you want to work with starting out. 

Could have so easily found myself slogging through the eviction process.   

Can they get to food shopping easily?  

I'm definitely leaning more towards the VA option, I just want to see if any of you have good reasons for or against either option.Ryan Conventional pricing is around mid 4's to higher 4's while VA pricing in the lower 4.00's but if you price the VA to be on "par," with conventional meaning the VA loan with no VAFF (VA funding fee 2.15 - 3.30%) then you'd have a similar rate to the conventional loan apples to apples pricing wise.The one advantage you had mentioned is that the scenario above wouldnt be  apples to apples when it comes to down payment because the VA loan would have 0% down while the conventional loan you could have as low as 3-5% down (with PMI paid monthly or within rate or split premium).Also, you only have VA entitlement (if not already tied up else where) for usually one property or home so by using conventional you can keep an ace in the back pocket or conversely you could do a low down conventional low with no monthly MI and keep the VA in the back pocket for emergencies or future planning (in case you plan to move out to get another primary shortly after 1 year again).VA loan also has a lot of YSP or yield spread premium so you can do no down and no closing cost pretty easily or use the credits towards paying off the VAFF or taxes/interest/insurance etc while the conventional loan does not nearly have as much YSP or lender credit to offer so your ability to strategically plan with your rate is not as readily available as VA.Generally, I'd say VA all the way 90% of the time but there are reasons to keep it available.

My advice, search online for all nearby apartment complexes, and filter out the ones that look distressed.

True, the market you buy into may be different (which has its own challenges if far away) and may not be quite as hot as the one you sold in, and you may still be able to find a great deal, but it will still be hot and very difficult to do without paying retail, which is always a big no no for me personally.I'm not saying there aren't cases where this could make sense, but I don't see this as one of them as she could just as easily sell now or two years from now and still do it tax free under the primary residence exclusion and she could still roll the proceeds into another investment property or anything else she chooses for that matter without messing around with all the complex moving parts and restrictions of the 1031. 

So that idea of multiplying your goal, to me, means that you'll easily hit your original goal en route to your BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal).

I think you could easily open yourself up to a slander lawsuit.

However, I'd sure like to know if there is some way to sort or filter the list based on property type.