It's one thing to read the forums and interact there,  but meeting people face to face will help you start forming those relationships that will help you through your whole journey.  

How do I start that interaction with them? 

One reason was the comps he used; while I'm purchasing a 2 story 3/2.5 with a one car garage, the comps he used were all single story 3/2's with no garage.When asked why he didn't use the comps for the same model houses that sold down the street, the response was that they "didn't sell through the MLS, so he had no way to determine seller discounts, terms of the loan" etc etc etc.My mortgage broker is interacting with this, and we might have made some headway, but in the meanwhile, I wanted to get the opinions of those on this board and determine if it is indeed in the VA guidelines to use only properties sold through the MLS as comps?

You can usually pinpoint the property through an interactive satellite map.

I always enjoy and value my interactions on here.

Agent still got their commish but did not do any work on the sell escrow.and in IL were you are .. agents hardly do anything anyway.. they put a contract together and hand off to attorney who does most of the heavy lifting IL is a VERY strange animal when it comes to how brokers interact with buyers and sellers.

This is a pretty cool community of folks that can help with any level questions...Dive in, interact, learn and most importantly DO!

Pierce/King have great, interactive maps to find out zoning information on a property, Snohomish, less-so.King - http://gismaps.kingcounty.gov/parcelviewer2/Pierce - http://matterhorn3.co.pierce.wa.us/publicgis/

Normally I would be more hands on, but I have been trying to keep my personal interactions down as a result of COVID-19.Knowing the courts are closed and will have a backlog once opened, I have offered the tenant a cash refund of one full months rent if he moves out and leaves the unit in good condition.

Ask them for more interaction with the sellers.