I had a guy take down part of a block wall, bring in a bulldozer, bust up the sides, knock holes in the bottom, compact and level the soil for 2K. 

@Loren Whitney I guess I am still confused with the 50% limit.If I am reading the Internal Revenue Code Section 4975 correctly, it applies to a partnership formed by an IRA holder and other non-IRA holders (such as father, brother...) and the IRA holder cannot hold more than a 50% interest in the joint venture or it would be a prohibited transaction.What about a case of say husband and wife, two partners, both participating from their own SDIRA (or Solor-401K), in a 70%-30% or 60%-40% (depending on the proportion of the funds available from their respective IRAs), that should work? 

What that fee is is directly proportional to your ability to negotiate - unless you have the truly motivated seller who wants to be done with the property yesterday and is in fire-sale mode.  

I am not a CPA and I may be wrong but...if you write the boiler off as an expense you will effectively reduce your NOI and the value of your enterprise will drop proportionally.

Should I get an attorney or am I blowing this out of proportion?

Lastly, on the 10% carry back, the seller will only be taxed on the proportional gain on those dollars, as you repay them and not all at once...

{We are doing a full-gut reno on an older unit now where the slab was poured directly on compacted soil - no drainage, no insulation, no vapour barriers.  

Is that amount subtracted from the basis, or is that money allocated proportionally to each item in the closing costs it covered?

I would use sand or 3/4 inch stone before using dirt, you wouldn't want the dirt to compress or compact over time and leave a void under the wall

Understood, I agree certain tasks are definitely best kept for those that are well qualified, especially considering the liability in messing up with the IRS, but as I understand it, some of the VAs are quite skilled, considering they do lots of real estate work.For what it's worth, I did come across a piece of software that proports to actually interpret the receipt data for you...if I find the program again I'll post back.