As I look forward to the next year, retiring and taking on real estate and investing full time, I am wondering if there are any real estate firms that are particularly investor friendly and would be a good match?

It might be OK to put in two layers of OSB in opposite directions so the seams don't match (for better strength. 

No difference between the two from a taxation perspective, however, you want to maintain separate accounts for each so that what you report as interest income matches the amount reported to the IRS by your servicer. 

After installing the granite, I am now contemplating staining or painting them a different color, perhaps a dark espresso stain OR paint them a beige cream either of which would match the granite.  

Well, I agree experience is essential when it comes to anything, but how can you match experience?

The key to finding a good attorney is to find one whose personality matches your own and that you can trust to handle your case.

I like the idea of our time being equal to John's investment, but I'm not sure if we're going to match that value on this first flip.

If there's no match, there's no point.  

Right now I have about $20k in a high yield online savings and money market, and not exactly sure which I should focus on more - paying off student loans, saving to buy a house, or buy a smaller property like a condo now while interest rates are low.So far I have been following a PIP plan:P - Preparing for the unexpected by having an emergency fund 3-4 months of worth of living expenses (part of my $20k) and the proper insuranceI - Investing for the future by contributing 6% of my salary to 401k Roth after-tax (however unfortunately with no match)P - And my only debt to pay off is my low interest rate student loans ($35k at 6.08% interest rate).

Thus, the secondary name-matching issues are factored in instantly and further name investigating becomes unnecessary.Once the tenant approves the sharing of the report it will be provided to the landlord instantly, so the tenant can't review it, then decide not to share.