And over the past 10 years my renters have paid off a huge portion of my loans.

The distressed portion of that market is also in the trillion dollar range.  

They may be ok with you borrowing a portion of it and you could avoid the rollover and potentially higher fees of a solo 401k!  

Colleagues are able to see private portions of your profile.

Have them sign a one or two year lease with option to purchase, collect an up front option fee and charge them a premium rent rate (a portion of which could be credited back to them toward down payment if they exercise the option).

If your grandparents were using the driveway and well a new buyer might have a case to take that portion of your dads property via adverse possession.

I know here in CA, if your screening criteria is 3x rent, you can only require a S8 tenant to make 3x their portion of the rent as income. 

That hurts your returns.With a pool, or a big enough pot of your own cash, like your friend, the lumpiness is reduced because a large portion of the cash is invested most of the time.  

If I have to hire a pro, there is no portion stating that I need to keep receipts and prove it really, I just have to have the inspector come back to the house and verify that it is up to code.I guess I am just confused now as to what constitutes a do-it-myself kind of job versus what I have to hire someone to do.  

If he decides to obtain a Realtor, who's portion will that expense come from...