I am also a very novice options trader, and barely making any money with that... but I understand that is long term project that will feed me and my family plenty in the future; just like real state investing.My goal here is to meet like minded people.... and I know there are plenty, but they don't know who I am, why I want get into this business.

I have 11 years experience estimating projects for contractors and sales.  

The city has come a long way in the last 20 years and I know lots of folks who think the Willamette Falls Legacy project could really turn the city into a legit tourist destination. 

Ultimately, our conclusion is the project is likely still a "good deal" - but we had never intended to get into the demo and new construction business. 

We are nearing the end of the project and have a few things coming up concerning the refinancing that we need some advice about.Basic rundown of numbers:4 units, each is a 2 bdrm with jack and jill bath(1.5), open concept, at ~1100sqft. 

While your local well contractor can help you especially regarding costs  I recommend to understand what you have http://privatewellclass.org which is a project of your Illinois ag extension. 

To get there I am working on increasing my income and reducing my daily living expenses.I had a massive personal budget overhaul about a year ago and reduced my expenses as much as I could, all expenses are planned and budgeted and I know exactly how much cashflow I have each month if there are no unexpected expenses.Part of that is I am focusing on flipping/wholesaling property to build more capital and then use it to buy more rentals as well and focusing on increasing my J.O.B. income until I can do REI full time.I think either route can work, buying only rentals may be a little slower at first but if the equity and cash flow are managed well it can increase more and more.

I would use a local bank and talk to them about portfolio lending.They can structure the deal such that you only get the money you need as the project goes forward.  

The vacancy rate in San Diego is somewhere around 3%, the city is growing like crazy, there are already massive developments planned on the east end of east village which will just continue to expand east.

gotcha... although if you just hand in the keys your walking from your downpayment and whatever cash you have in it.your sense are correct all these folks singing on massive debt with 5 year calls are taking a certain amount of risk.. just need to look back to 08 09 when no one could refi and all these properties changed hands.. it was not because of poor operators basically it was frozen credit and banks not relenting or walls st.. hedgefund bought said notes from failed banks and refused to rewrite and took the assets.. since they paid pennies on the dollar for the paper.. foreclosing and reselling was still a better play for them..