Requesting opinions on ways to purchase 2nd property

[Chris Pasternak]

Hello BPers - new buy and hold investor here. I like unconventional ways of purchasing because they seem to offer the best deals, after you find your distressed situation.

Scenario:

Eyes set on a fully occupied, clean! duplex in good neighborhood. Without getting into too many of the details of this property, I'll skip to the financing.

Sellers are 2 brothers who own 50/50. One side is in an estate now and the other wants out. It is not on the market because they had a cash buyer for 55k, but that fell through. I found it through a connection with a realtor. I have been deliberating the following purchasing scenarios:

1) Cash offer of 45k. 20-25k of my own, and 20-25k from a friend. If I paid 25k cash, I was going to offer friend 20k investment with 30k return in 5 years, 8.4% annualized return. Too much, too little?

2) Conventional offer of 50-55k, I pay full downpayment of 25%.

These are the two options I have been weighing most heavily.

Also, I was thinking of getting the 20k from a self-directed IRA. Who actually does these that are legit companies? My google search returned me with a bunch of random companies that my eyes didn't trust on first site. Do larger firms not do these? I tried fidelity and USAA, both said no.

Thanks guys!