Stressing the importance of not buying in the hood and upping his game ( which I think he finally listened to) and he was the one who introduced me to BP..

The end goal is a small apartment building.Once I have the small apartment building (10 units) I would sell my other properties and consolidate my cashflow, risk, and stress through the apartment building to be free and clear.My father has been a carpenter for 40 years, and we are considering getting him licensed as a contractor so we can get 203k loans and do our own work and be able to afford larger properties.

Just be aware that there will be multiple challenges along the way and significant stress on the relationship with your partner, and you probably won't structure your 2nd one the same way.Partnering is an excellent way to start out.

I blogged about these very passive and low stress investments quite extensively Have I Found the Holy Grail of Passive Real Estate Investing?

There is risk in taking it to the next level and you have to be able to stomach the stress and risk involved....grow a pair and risk time/money/ego on doing it. 

I want to allow her to enjoy her golden years with no financial stress.#2 is to chase passion.  

I cannot stress the importance of finding a very good Investor Friendly CPA.

Caused me a lot of stress. 

The stress over a couple of thousand dollars in deductions is not worth it even though it will probably not trigger any audits, Refinance is your most important goal is take care of that, besides you can always amend your tax return later on good luck on the refi

If that hourly figure looks pretty nice, consider being a bit lest stressed by a couple of extra cumulative hours of work each month.