Insuring old housing stock can certainly have an added insurance component. 

If you were investing in the stock market would you put $50K in one stock or 10 different stocks at $5000 each.

The real estate investment in the IRA is strictly for investment purposes only, just like a stock investment would be.

I'd just put the money in blue-chip dividend stocks and start a new business or find a new hobby for something to do.

Like a unified stock tracker.3) Analyze individual investments - dive into each property.

I underpaid on W-2 slightly, had long term capital gains on stock sales, and a small income gain on my personal K-1. 

Akron has very old housing stock with a sh*t ton of galvanized plumbing.

Risk isn't like a stock, you're not looking at beta you're looking at quality of neighborhood you're purchasing, interest rate, rental liquidity, etc. 

But I want to control where the money goes, not just into stocks and bonds.

My next goal was to make 50k with stocks crushed that one.My final goal is to flip a house to secure a second property but I'm actually lost on how a flip actually works mainly the lending and financing part , I don't want to jump into something I'm not fully confident about if.