Because you get the match from your employer.

I believe the employment stability weighs very big.

I'm finally leaving my W-2 job this Wednesday (Feb 24th) and I'll be fully self employed then.

I feel that having gainful employment under your belt of any kind will be helpful in teaching yourself about accountability, time management, and also help you secure future employment if you catch an early bad break in real estate.If you're really interested in real estate and need a cash job to help you become an investor, a lot of folks recommend working at a property management, development, construction, or other real estate related business to learn about a specific sector of the industry.

I'm new to note investing and I'm not sure I'm comfortable when negotiating note sellers but more importantly, with non-paying borrowers, having my home address as my registered LLC or on business correspondence, and my work cell phone coming up as my employers name on a land line caller ID.  

Getting your foot in the door is hard but once in the market, it usually works out if you hold long enough and buy in the core areas with good schools and employment.

For flipping, income is typically subject to ordinary income rates and both sides of the Self-employment tax.

Go through applications in order received, verify employment and income, call past landlords, if everything looks good send them a link to MySmartMove for credit and background check. 

Well, because her employer required her to get the physical, after some testing, they discovered ovarian cancer.

If that fails I know hard money lenders who employ a tiered system and may be able to get you a better than standard rate, but @Dan Schwartz is correct.