Anyone there that used an IRA could easily have lost their entire retirement fund. 

You win in real estate by never being forced to buy/sell or by taking the loss that can break you.

A few weeks worth of refunds per year because you couldn't take care of something ASAP, will easily pay someone to manage it for you. 

If the tenant doesn't cure the issue w/in the timeframe then the PM should cure the issue I.e send someone over to clean the yard, and tow the vehicle if necessary.

If any issues were to come up, you can easily call a vendor you trust to remedy the solution.Short term rentals are obviously more time intensive but even then they can be easy to manage.

If they are professional, they can explain this quickly and easily.

I did not actually see those properties so I don't now good of a deal those were but I did check out a nice house that would easily fetch close to $600,000 in the open market, that sold for $440,000.This is a tendency I have seen already so I am now working in pooling money to have access to the bigger, better deals. 

I will say though, if you take a look objectively you might easily find a way to adjust the floor plan with just adding a wall or door.

The one that should easily get a bankaccount couldn't.

Banking on one buyer to purchase a property at $400,000 above the estimated ARV can easily go sideways.