Tips / strategies for doing real estate full time?

[Account Closed]

Hello, I am a contractor / carpenter / beginner investor in Cleveland, OH. I would like to quit my job which is pretty demanding, working 50 hours+ a week and leaving me pretty drained and without much free time to work on my properties. 

I have a two family which while living in one unit is cash flowing about $300/mo, and will cash flow about $900/mo when I move out. Rent is $900 down, will be $750 up. I just bought my next door neighbors house for $9k, partly seller financed $200/mo for the next 20 months. I need to gut half the house and do a full rehab. I also just did a cash out refi on the first house and have $15k available from that, plus my additional savings for emergency. I could get additional financing but I don’t want to over leverage myself in case of emergency. 

I also have a relative who is wants to invest with me but I am hesitant to partner with anyone or lose profit (unless the faster progress is worth it) and would want to make sure the partnership or additional loan is worthwhile. I feel like this is a valuable resource I could use if the situation / agreement is right for me.

I also work a lot on the side and could take on more contract jobs which would be better paying than my current job but I don’t want to count on that right away, to be safe. I’d rather put more energy into rental properties and building equity faster. If I keep working my current job or work for myself it will be a slow process to get everything done or I’ll be paying more to sub a lot of the work out. 

What do you think are the best options for me to consider and does anyone have any ideas how I could make this work? I’m also preapproved for $80k and as tempting as it is to buy myself a single family home and let my current unit pay that mortgage and then some, there are probably smarter ways to move forward. Thanks for reading :)