If you are willing to live in urban areas you may want to talk to a local bank in your market and see if they have any incentives or grant loans for certain areas.  

@Jerry Chilimidos I am not a CPA owever my understanding is any loans to your IRA can not be personally guaranteed.

A relative who does long-distance real estate investing told me that I have to sign the final loan document and the transfer of ownership document in person.

Personal guarantees are EXTREMELY common.

Personally, I find BTRs to be more predictable with fewer ongoing maintenance issues, and they tend to attract high-quality tenants.

You don’t have to pay $20k+ to learn to broker loans. 

No problem, I had cash from a refi, a HELOC, and a personal LOC.

Loan interest is deductible based on the use of the loan, not the asset securing the loan. 

If the person stops making payments, they alas,  have to foreclose.

Stop reading if you want.2) I couldn’t guess what “There is a 6 months of grace period before interest payment begins” means.3) They call their $3555 charge a “Loan Fee,” stated a few lines up as 2%. 2% of $235,000 (loan amount) is $4470.4) Do you seriously believe the loan fee, “… IS 100% REFUNDABLE IF THERE IS ANY DEFAULT FROM THEPART OF THE LENDER OR IF THE BORROWER CHOOSES TO TERMINATE THE LOAN.”5) It’s okay to pay an appraiser directly.