You might consider small claims court as well, probably be quicker.

But with my house paid off I can now amass cash quicker to buy other properties too, and use my HELOC.

The purchase property has to be identified within 45 days, and closed in 120.If you purchase the bigger more expensive one and then sell the smaller, cheaper one, all you can do is use the proceeds to pay off the loan quicker...... you cant reap the tax benefits after the fact.Unless I'm missing something.......another more qualified person will chime in soon....

So at the end of the day one may work better than the other with a varying hosts of factors because 1st and 2nd may take longer to close and you have an aggressive seller who has 5 backup offers, in that case you go with your single loan quicker closing 95% LTV with 5% down, and get the deal done (example).

I actually got as far as getting a contractor to give me an estimate but it was for $110,000; I was blown away, that left me no room for profits and now the home is off the market.What can I do to secure these homes quicker, how can I get a general contractor that is not going to give crazy huge budgets???  

(I'd obviously prefer to grow quicker than that).

You can offer cash with keys to get them out quicker.4.

What advice could you give to help me get there quicker?

I would recommend keeping up your night time studying but also try to get up an hour or two earlier to get some time in too if you really want to knock it out quicker.

If you buy right...get a decent off market deal, value added, gentrifying neighborhood, good long term fixed financing, etc. then you increase your chance of getting quicker appreciation.