I've tried to secure a second job, but the job market here is really tough and many of my friends have lost their jobs and been searching for up to a year in several different career fields (CO).

We were able to work with the sellers since they were going through tough times and wanted to get out of the house quickly.

Are their flipper secrets to getting materials at a lower cost?

It;s tough enough to get the trust of a buyer on your side with NO FEES.

I’m a very direct but also analytical person so i be sure to ask all the tough questions up front because i don’t like bad surprises.

But there are so many nuances to that topic I can't even start to delve into it here.Your 2-4 unit theory will be tough.  

You may not like the tough love approach, but "pain" is the biggest motivator.

The only downside to this loan style is that it's tough to qualify for.

where I would tend to agree with the OP is I have seen folks use their IRA and not understand the actual costs of ownership and end up in a tough spot when they don't have enough reserves in the IRA  ( example they have 50k and spend 45k of the cash thinking 5k is enough reserves.) ..

If you are looking in Charlotte, that is going to be a tough one to pull off.