Hi @Michael Ewers all great advise here but one thing that I will say is that you just has to try and see if that is what you like to do. 

Many investors run into bottlenecks in deal flow, funding, or renovations when they try to grow without a solid groundwork.

My capital continues to be completely tied up in the property since I'm pretty maxed on my LTV and likely can't unlock any more equity with a HELOC or something like that.The goal of this project was always meant to be a short term exit so I could continue to try and aggressively grow my real estate portfolio, but now it feels like I'm stuck at first based.

You’re trying to ruin the biggest benefit of the life in flip. 

We also try to keep a few hundred thousand in reserves.  

I tried to create rapport with the owner over the phone but waited to present my real agenda only in person.   

Things definitely change once you're married but if you don't have any kids and your wife is open to it you may want to try finding a duplex, triplex or quadplex to buy as a primary.

Are you trying to figure out what your strategy is going to be when you decide to move into your next property after this first time purchase?

To answer your questions here though:Alternative options - I was going to sell all my stocks and etfs, take out a HELOC, and some credit cards to try to shoestring together enough to the deal without a hard money loan. 

When I do this I try to pay the money back as fast as possible.