You pay all your contractors WHATEVER THEY ASK FOR, and if they're not damned good at what they do and know exactly what they're worth, they're not worth working with.

I got a quote for $17k to $19k for a full updated, fully occupied building.I thought this seemed double what I should be paying. 

Assuming you find somebody who has the risk appetite, you’d need to pay them a huge return to compensate for the risk.

It did come with a pay cut but worth it since I wasn't crazy busy or dead tired during or after work.

Buy houses that make money here and they’ll pay for your vacations :)

Obviously, different people have different reasons for the way they approach their investment strategy:Personally, I prefer to use personal funds and "pay" myself the interest. 

So far so good, tenant is good and says " they plan on staying for as long as I let her.

I would tell you to pay down your credit cards even if you focus on just one card at a time to get the balance down to 30% or less of credit limit.

I plan to remove two existing houses and build ~3 new ones.If anyone here had similar projects in Bellevue, I’d love to connect and learn from you.

But, you can use it to buy a 2-4 unit (2 unit are much easier then 3 or 4)or house hack a single family meaning live in the house and rent rooms to friend having them pay you mortgage for you.