You must try to form a local's point of view even if you are not an actual local.  

Pick a market you are comfortable with or like to visit. 

For home purchases, in order to obtain a VA loan, you must certify that you intend to occupy the home as your principal residence.

So you must plan for repairs, cleaning etc., which is close to impossible to get done all at the same time in a few hours between tenants. 

When analyzing properties, is there a certain percentage of ARV that you can determine if its a good deal without doing the calculator on every property EX: ARV 300K (must get house for 225,000 without repairs)- 75 percent-  Is this right?

You must use all of the net proceeds (the net sale minus any mortgage payoff) in the purchase or purchases.In a way it doesn't matter how much profit there is when you do a 1031. 

To get to the “trust” point, you (or your partner) must have a proven track record in some sort of investing that can be shared with your potential investors or that some of these investors have already experienced with you and hence know why they can trust you!

They are fixated on the square foot matching because it allowed them to go back a year to use comps.This happened with multiple properties across multiple appraisers.I'd say things like; "All things being equal a larger house is going to sell for more than a smaller house" and would get told "Smaller houses in your neighborhood must be in more demand; that's why the price is higher".I'd say things like; "Here is a house that is the same square footage in the same subdivision going to the same schools and it sold for much less" and would get told "But it's in the older part of the subdivision" when the year built was only 2 years older than mine!

You must be more resourceful than this. 

The one I elected was: 85% of purchase and 100% of rehab 15% down ($18,450)Total loan must be 75% or less than the after repair value (ARV) Appraised ARV: $255,000Here is why my property worked for this program: Appraised ARV value: $255,00075% of $255,000 = $191,250Total Loan: $159,850 / $255,000 = 62.69%62.69% is less than 75% or $159,850 is less than $191,250LessonsThose were the numbers, which is only part of the experience.