I work at a large credit union and have access to our internal rate page. 

Just wondering how much time they should spend - I imagine some materials such as insulation are fairly standard whereas other things like countertops might require more homework in terms of selection and taste.

My lender was International City Bank in Long Beach.

My lender was International City Bank in Long Beach.

My lender was International City Bank in Long Beach.

Honestly, driving for dollars can find distressed homes that are not on the standard lists.

It has good rent to value ratios for San Diego (which means less bad than most locations in San Diego - not good by other location standards). 

3 - Internal damage: Again avoiding the possible vandalism issue... but along the lines of what happens if a sink is left on or a toilet is flushed and overflows... causing property damage? 

To piggyback off of what everyone else is saying, the VA has some strict standards for qualifying a property.

To do % of two numbers, I always cheat and go to this calculator: https://www.marshu.com/articles/calculate-percent-with-simple-number-percentage-calculator.phpEstimate: when pulling a list from a data source (like listsource.com) - the site estimates the equity by how long the mortgage has been in place and estimates payoff based on a standard amortization rate.