if you are going to do things like include utilities, or have an off street parking spot, other amenities etc, there's no reason in my mind you couldn't "charge a premium" for a premium unit/service. 

Hired part time admin assistant and 1/4 time services of book keeping professional. 

I never made more than $100k in a year working until my last year of employment, and still managed to retire at 50 with a lifetime pension from a combination of military and public service.

In a situation where you were doing an arbitrage (renting it from the owner, then yourself re-renting it to someone else) your costs to renovate/fix it up while you're using it would be able to be capitalized and depreciated by you once your rental was in service (available for rent to others). 

Hi @Augusta OwensFirst off thank you for your service! 

If you are trying to come up with a way to finagle the occupancy requirements while using an amazing loan (that you earned based on your service) like a VA, I would say you are starting off on the wrong foot.

@Augusta Owens first, thank you for your service!

The ways around that are to build a business around supporting their voucher and inspection program and spending no small amount of effort ensuring they are smoothly servicing your rentals. 

A debt service loan is popular for that step.

There may be requirements to cover the trash service depending on the town.My first commercial loan was 30% down, 20 year term (adjusting after the first 5 years).