I have pretty solid contractors for most other things but I can't seen to nail down a deal  on cabinets. 

Sounds like a pretty great experience overall!

We're doing pretty well and approaching our primary financial goals, to walk away from our W2 jobs and focus solely on real estate. 

You can get into a pretty good property with that.

If you're 100% confident on ARV and resale time, you can assume less risk, but still...putting cash into a property you don't own with the presumption it will sell at said amount in the near future is pretty crazy. 

She relocated and I promoted the assistant manager who was not strong.

You get to set the interest rate (it can be 0%) and you get your investment amount back sooner.Some things to think of: To file a deed at the county courthouse is $100-$150 in cost (depending on which county)And you want that note to be pretty close to 70% of the ARV for the property if you don't want to bring any money to closing. 70% will allow you to roll in your closing costs.

I've had pretty good luck so far with tenants, but we did have to evict one guy. 

I’ve used them up to pretty high end units. 

I am in the Northern VA area and the houses are pretty expensive.