I was ready to surrender because the actual numbers sucked compared to our projections.

You normally handle the whole project yourself.  

Summary: I’m currently working on a project to analyze rental market trends and help real estate investors, landlords, and property managers identify high-performing areas.

- Most real estate investing projects have negative cashflow for the first few months - if not the first few years.Keep listening to the podcasts, but pay attention to WHEN THEY WERE RECORDED!

Their first project...a neighborhood of single-family homes...yielded a steady 8% ROI in its first year.2.

Keep in mind though those types of project are not 90 day flips in a 500 to 600k market. 

Quote from @Jonathan Chan: I used my Mom's to help her retire by becoming a lender on real estate projects, but curious to see how others are leveraging their SDIRA.  

Most projections I’ve seen are calling for rates to stay right around where they are this year, or if anything possibly going up a little.

I am typically managing 5-10 construction projects at a time.

Try to get some experience by helping your friend with some of his projects.