Long story short, I just spoke to her new landlord who confirmed she moved in.  

As a general rule of thumb, I want the ability to set aside about 50% of the rent income each month as a reserve for maintenance, capital expenditures, vacancy, taxes, and insurance. 

I would say HR department source of issue as it is really odd that they would add commentary or not confirm likely to keep working same hours.

So you have two options, get seller to agree to a written addendum stating that buyer reserves the right to record a deed of trust in escrow and no additional contingencies, approvals, or costs to seller apply.

Cowger Doing a cash out refinance should not result in a tax bill (income or capital gains) due to the “cash” you are taking out of the property is debt and will be repaid, eventually.You should be able to confirm this with your banker and an accountant.

I know a purchase agreement is needed that secures me the right to purchase the property and reserves me the right to assign the contract but is that it?

Putting 20% down on say a 60.000.00 property would get you a decent house with plenty of money in reserves.

Again on 7/2, the title company attempts to get confirmation of closing and required documents from Chase but again the Chase team falls off the face of the earth. 

But, you can speak with @Dave Foster to better confirm.

For sure I would leave a month or two of reserves in case of emergency but we currently have 8-10 months sitting there.