One area where you might see an acute link between the two would be vacation properties. 

This gives you a box sized hole in the wall to work with, when your done, just put a "cut in box" back in and your good to go.

I thought "rental investor" because overall the house has been well-cared, has a great floorplan, and with some new flooring, and a few very minor things it's a cute house as a rental )for a blue-collar family.

A note is passive when you are just receiving points and interest, but once a cut of the profits is written in, then it is an equity position subject to UBIT.There are 3 approaches to flipping with IRA funds:1- Flip & pay UBIT.  

Hello @Pete Perez,Here is a cut and paste from my last letter, which I close on next week.

My wife is not planning to take any fee whatsoever, that money is going back to us for the deal, the only realtor costs would be for her agency if we list with MLS which is required even if she doesn't take a cut, as well as the buyer agent fees.

They may be a little more expense because they are making a cut on the loan. 

Theoretically, you should be able to make a little more on the direct hard money loans, as their is no intermediary taking a cut.

They usually take a cut of whatever commission you make, and/or some set of transaction fees.

The broker is gonna get a cut from you purchase and sales, regardless if they are for you or for another client.