My RE goals are to eventually provide financial independence for my family by way of doing REI on the side. 

We are in the process of securing a duplex in Stockton and trying to get recommendations on contractors that are reliable, independent, and cost effective.

We plan on living in the duplex for 1-2 years then live in flip a SFH for 2 years to either sell or keep as a rental and continue the live in flip a SFH method until we reach financial independence, which for us is $4K per month.

We plan on living in the duplex for 1-2 years then live in flip a SFH for 2 years to either sell or keep as a rental and continue the live in flip a SFH method until we reach financial independence, which for us is $4K per month.

I doing this project as myself, not as an LLC or business are 1099's still required if working with an independent contractor, individual, or company, etc. ?  

Finally these 4 are not independent, they are related and one can trade off of another ... for example markets with high short term cash flow tend to have lower long term appreciation (and visa versa), and the higher your leverage (debt) then the higher your mortgage pay down and tax savings but the lower your cash flow in absolute dollars per property. 

By default I was thinking of using either the 'Estimated Fair Market' value on my 2016 property taxes of $136,900 ( Land Assessed Value of $17,100 so the difference leaves $119,800 for improvement basis) or the 'Assessed Value' of $137,400 ($120,300 for improvement basis).Since my new tenant's lease started on 8/15/2016, I am using that as the official conversion date.I'm sure if I reach out independently to 10 different realtors, I would might get 10 different CMAs.  

I will self-manage the other units.Transition to living off one-income and start having children (my wife enjoys being busy and the social aspects of work and wants to continue full-time employment).Long-term Goals-Grow real-estate portfolio to consist of a handful of multi-family units.Live off of real estate investment cash flow (i.e. achieve financial independence).  

It's slightly different then a broker in that a broker is independent and will work with a number of different lending institutions while I work with Movement Mortgage products only.

There are definitely issues in the construction world with the difference between employee and independent contractor, I worked for our insurance board, can definitely relate.