In addition to education, networking is the key.

If he had a property, financed it for $80k, sold it to you sub to with no additional cash, his cap gain taxes are based on the $80k sale price.

Doesn't this put a cloud on the title in addition to put the seller in breach of contract? 

There are additional knobs that can be tuned here so make sure you know what they are and where they're ponited.

In addition to educating yourself jump in and start evaluating as many deals as possible. 

Foreclosure proceedings start.Figuring out how you are going to handle your 5 year  balloon should be done day 1 after closing. also many commercial loans will have covenants that require addition of equity if values drop.. also capital requirements for the owners..  

That said, I am looking for additional income streams.

That said, I am looking for additional income streams.

Additionally, the property will be list at market value and first made available to owner occupants 

I could HI Kevin,This transition that you're asking about above is extremely important to transition smoothly and plan for because it will ensure your subsequent VA use for additonal purchases.Once the current property is refinanced with a non VA loan this will free up your entitlement for additional use.The max conv limit in Ventura county Ca is 672,750 and the max loan limits for a high balance loan can go up to 95%.So what this means is theoretically you could refinance up to 672,750 loan amount with an appraisal as low as 708,158 dollars or higher before your loan is subject to jumbo/non conventional guidelines (much tougher to qualify for and has lower LTV's).The VA loan has some key features that other loans dont have:- a trade off of no monthly PMI but the upfront PMI is huge, equivalent to 2.15 - 3.30 Points (borderline hard money points).