In addition to that I have read several flip books cover to cover, attended several flip seminars around the state, read many blogs, and studied repair costs extensively.  

I did pretty well on this unit, unfortunately had some renovations that became more extensive than anticipated, but when all is said and done will be looking at roughly $1,700 cashflow monthly. 

I've been researching the are quite extensively over the last 3 months and even picked up a couple houses remotely.

In some of the more touristy areas, there have been long-standing STR regulations, some, such as Oceanside, CA for instance, do not charge a fee for the permit, yet it is required to get one...

Probably you should just step back - get an extension on your contract - re-think and re-bid this job with a new contractor.

They have told me that they've never heard of an instance where a bank would call the loan because it's not in default or arrears, which points to "some money is better than no money."

For instance, you question is "Is REI better than a 9-5 job?" 

For instance,  The most common way to hold property and what you are probably describing is a tenants in common ownership.  

Also, are there any cards that will let me hold a high balance and pay it off over 6 months for instance with very low interest rates?

My background includes extensive experience on Wall Street in mortgage investment analytics.