My goal is to have 20k to invest and to be safe I want an extra 5k to have a backup in case of unplanned costs due to inexperience in the buying process, having vacancy the first months, etc...Question 1: Does it make sense to minimize my 401k contribution to nearly nothing to speed up my savings for REI?

.* Added siding to the one extra room.

Budget in a couple of extra months of hard money costs in case the project runs long 2.)

Let's do the math 20% of ($500K minus land, let's say 20% to land leaves you with) $400K depreciation basis. 20% of that equals $80,000 of extra depreciation write-off.

Seller finance for initial rehab period, then pulled a HELOC to pay off seller financing and have extra cash available tied to the property.

I plan on financing the truck at 0 interest so that I'm not actually using the 40k that year, just taking the depreciation that year. ill still have it to use for other opportunities as they come up and my plan would be to purchase something that would pay the truck note and still have extra left over.

. #7 - How many total ROOMS, beds, baths, fireplace, pool, extras, remodeled (year) view, condition etc#8 - Garage, on-street parking, off-streetLook for 3 comparable sold properties and 3 comparable active for sale properties. 

There are a few other negatives about FHA that you're not considering:Lots of extra paperwork with a FHA loan.Contractors must be approved by HUD to do the work, so that limits who you can hire.

I'm looking to buy a fixer upper single family or condo and live in it while renting out the spare room for extra income towards fixing up the home.

However, some will have an extra hoop or two but probably still interested to do it.