new to Real estate with Upcoming Project Questions

[Jule Serio]

Good day all! Im fairly new to the real estate world but have been lurking around this community for a few years. I have an upcoming project I'm looking for some advice/recommendations on. I inherited an old family home that hasn't been lived in for quite some time in the Daytona Beach area. The house needs tremendous work and rehab however the land and structure are owned outright. I would like to rehab it and convert the SFH to a duplex for rental purposes.

My situation is quite unique as I do not currently work in the US. I am a contractor overseas so I receive salary but it's not W2. I have quite a few years of tax returns for income proof though as well as VA benefits I receive monthly. I am currently searching for lenders as I was thinking of using my VA home loan to fund the rehab however I ran into problems as I work outside the country and was expecting to make this property a duplex so I could use one as a primary residence and the other as a rental.

Can anyone recommend a better way, if possible, of acquiring funding for this project, other than a conventional mortgage? If able I would like to put the least down as possible (however I am able and willing to if necessary). If so, how to go about the process? I have used a rental calculator on this and the numbers look acceptable to me, however I was unsure if I should use a traditional mortgage approach or the BRRRR method and search for different funding methods.

Due to not working in country and having limited availability to travel back to manage the project, I was interested in working with a company that can help manage the logistics of the process and give me guidance on the appropriate steps to take. Does anyone have any experiences they can share with me in this regard?