J Scott thanks your advise is great, I apparently have until tonight to respond and I don't know if I can get a gc to bid by then.Jody Young I didn't know there was minimum acceptance guidelines for a VA loan, can you share a link?

I will contact the tenant one last time to advise that I am issuing the pay or quit notice and will be starting eviction proceedings at the end of this week if they do not resolve the issue (and I will be following through on that).

Be careful that your real estate agent is advising on rents - ask him/her to validate those numbers.Regarding your evaluation, if you purchased at $495k, I calculate negative cash flow and return, even with rents of $4400. 

Seems like it will be a 4-5 month renovation project and our appraiser/realtor advised that we can even list at $560,000 in the future since there is barely any inventory in this area. 

What strategy would you advise to get there as quickly as possible?

I don't know your level of experience with this field, but I just advise you to tread with caution.

Can anyone advise on this or any other strategies to hold on to this property as a productive investment?

It is a very generic and poorly advised statement.

As I'm sure you've  begun to figure out, BP is a great place for information, resources, mentors, etc and I highly advise spending a lot of on here getting familiar with the site. 

I have been a party to 7 buy, rehab and hold transactions and advised others on many more.