I'm sure they also spend significantly more time on their role, than you do in yours....or at least their time spent is more constrained where yours can be remote/on the road. 

There are so many different wildlife creatures to see, that if you are an animal lover, you could spend months seeing new animals every day.  

Actually the IRS does not tell us what we can invest in, only what is disallowed (life insurance contracts and collectibles).Allowable investments for SDIRA investing include the following:Residential real estate, including: apartments, single family homes, and duplexesCommercial real estate Undeveloped or raw landREITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts)Real estate notes (mortgages and deeds of trusts)Promissory notes Private limited partnerships, limited liability companies, and C corporationsTax lien certificatesOil and gas investmentsPrivate stock offerings, private placementsJudgments/structured settlementsGold bullion Factoring investments

@Jay Hinrichs“this seems like a mini private mutual fund..

Who wants to spend $100 to view a rental?

And if your investor friend’s private loan helps fill in any gaps, it might be worth considering that short-term pain for long-term stability.What do you think you’d focus on first... paying off that line of credit as fast as possible or jumpstarting the renovation to boost cash flow right away? 

Spending $1,000 to start the process can be worthwhile if you’re clear on the steps needed to reach that point.As for renovations, the approach really depends on your goals and the scale of the work.

This way, they’ll have a vested interest in maintaining high standards of management.To truly understand property dynamics and support the management team, I recommend spending time on-site.

I'd also spend some money in direct marketing to get more sellers, and either wholesale those deals or buy them myself.

. - All they've got to learn is to save some of their income to pay their bills on time and they could then afford to buy a home.Instead, they spend every penny they make on things they don't really need and then blame everyone else.Take a look at a Class C or D tenant's bank statement to see the frivolous things they spend their money on and you'll better understand our society's biggest problem.