Likewise another would be they are in between closings on their primary residence/commercial and prefer to rent in the interim than lodge/purchase in a hotel/storage.What is an issue is where they conduct business as such.

My goal is to purchase a single family home in the Alexandria or Fairfax/Vienna area:-as a primary residence-requires minor to moderate rehab-that I can turn into a rental in 1 year and cover expenses-and I can save some of my cash for a second property to turn into PRI'm recently married so I've got to bring my wife along on this journey...

I'm trying to get some insight on what I should do with my next real estate moveCurrent situation:I just bought my perm residence a few months back, I put 15% downpayment, will have 20% by next year.

You actually put yourself into a possible taxable situation if you turn your residence into a rental property. 

A good place to start might be to look into buying a personal residence that needs work.

If you are gutting kitchens & bathrooms, opening up walls, altering the floorplan, relocating or otherwise upgrading plumbing and electric, and then the plan is to immediately flip the property and you don't wish to get sued into oblivion after the sale if anything should go wrong, then yes, pull permits and used a licensed, bonded general contractor.If on the other hand this is your personal residence and you just want to paint, change some trim and flooring, and freshen up the bathrooms and kitchen without gutting or moving stuff around, then you may be ok without permits.There are many shades of gray between those scenarios too ...

California and were just told by the escrow company we have to pay 3.3% taxes to California because we live in FL and the property was not our primary residence.

Are you trying to apply for a primary residence home loan?  

My wife and I are opening a HELOC on our current residence to have as backup for a property we are about to acquire.

I have a property similar in cashflow to yours simply because I bought it as a primary residence years ago.