I am worried that I will have to get rid of bamboo which is one of the most attractive features of this house.

I'd like to continue speaking with you outside of this discussions and listen to some of your ideas.

I don't like the uncertainty, so I am going to continue to contribute until I retire. 

As you grow in one area you will continue to grow in others.

Congrats @Ryan Canfield. to continued success...

If you want to access some of the funds from your 401k for personal use (investments), you could utilize the participant loan feature, which would allow each participant to access up to $50,000 of your retirement funds, tax-free and penalties-free.

I don't have direct experience with Clayton Morris of Morris Invest, nor his wife Natali, but I have followed them for years as broadcasters and technology pundits.They have both been featured guests on This Week in Tech (TWIT) for years, and both held various jobs in the mainstream tech media before starting to build platforms of their own.I was bemused when two of my usually separate spheres of interest (tech and real estate) seemed to converge, as Clayton and Natali started pivoting from tech to real estate.They are thoughtful, entrepreneurial folks, and good at building awareness and interest.

You can either continue with that structure indefinitely with a strong management agreement in place if you want.  

My goal is to obtain a single-family rental property sometime in the next 6 months, and if everything goes well, continue to do that (buy more rental properties) at regular intervals.  

You can install vinyl plank over your cracked tile, but depending on how uneven the tile floor is now and in the future (it will continue to crack) and how think your selection of vinyl plank, it will show through the floor eventually.The existing tile likely cracked due to instability in the subfloor.