I'm not too hung up on this, because the margins still appear very attractive (from what the agent speculated ARV). my hesitancy stems from a lack of experience and direct steps/plan of action to take on a property I like. 

I have actually envied some of the numbers i see there but dont know enough about that market and am not ready to start investing in that direction yet.

Would help if you stated what questions you had so people could reply right away.I have knowledge on HELOANs but not direct experience.

He did a good job but looking back on it now I think I could've done alot better with more insight and direction How did you finance this deal?

Might pay the appraiser direct or something, but any lender fees have to be on a HUD-1.

However, nearing retirement, with our past experience in mind, we decided to try it again, this time just rehabbing one house to flip.So, I set up a self-directed IRA so we could use the retirement money we had left after the recession, and bought a foreclosure house that needed a lot work.

That said, I am still on VRBO, GVR, BDC and direct.  

Also, any guides, info, or direction would be awesome. 

As part of his investment of capital into scaling, he hired a marketing firm specializing in SEO, SEM, social media, direct email, etc.  

Unlike REITs, direct real estate provides control over management decisions and the ability to leverage financing for higher returns.