Or, if there are just a few cracks where roots invade the pipe, then you can just have someone come by and "roto-root" the site on a regular basis (once a year should be fine for most situations - this will cost maybe $300-400 each time).  

I was wondering if anyone has some good recommendations for VA's or maybe if I should take a different route.

My problem with the 3.5% lender is that I had asked, prior to finding another lender, about the 5% down loan and he said it wasn't possible and my only route would be FHA.

Or contact title companies that deal with investors regularly about using their contract package/paperwork so that the process of acquiring and assigning a property went more smoothly? 

Lastly, what are some good systems or software for direct mail marketing if I want to go that route?

If you do end up going the HELOC route and you max out the amount available to you it can negatively impact your credit score because of your debt utilization rate.

@Jason Kern I like the no more than $1M worth of property in one llc route

I have a market that I invest in, in Texas that meets that 1% rule regularly.

I thought it would be like a credit card process, it sounds very much like a regular refi.

That's kind of the route that I figured would be best.