I would probably consult your lender on this as opposed to your realtor to confirm.

I much rather getting started and learning by doing, so I'm going to try and focus my learning/research on problems that I'm currently experiencing or working through on my RE journey (as opposed to reading every book and watching every YouTube video before starting).Raising down payments will likely be the determining factor in how quickly I am able to scale, but that is probably a good thing because it will give me time to devote more time to fewer properties in the beginning.

I'm not opposed to sharing rooms and/or doing short-term (Airbnb) or long-term leases.

Plan is to  put other properties in service that function the same way but acquire through corporate lease in opposed to owning it.  

The main things I am looking for at the moment are suggestions for lenders in the area that work with long distance investors, Facebook groups where local wholesalers hangout and also to just meet generally cool individuals that invest in the area that aren't opposed to chatting with some random new guy. 

@Matt McCue One other thing I don't see mentioned is that unless the seller is completely opposed to it, you could still have an agent represent you through the process for a pre-negotiated commission amount that you would be paying.

starting off, you can buy as an owner occupant with fha (3.5% down plus closing costs) as opposed to buying an investment property (25% down plus closing costs). move next year and do the same thing but with a low cost conventional loan (generally 5% plus closing costs). 

I’ve focused in on the Tacoma market and plan on using my VA loan to purchase a home for house-hacking while I am there, but I am not opposed to other opportunities or strategies.

This is in my home town but I'm not opposed to walking away if they were to ask for the world.Is this a good deal for the owner and/or myself?

@Rick Baggenstoss a strategy you're well aware of, as opposed to holding the property as a traditional SFH rental with a fixed yearly lease, I rented per room with weakly leases.