Hi David, thank you for this it is an interesting read and there is lots of good food for thought.But for me I am not a fan of Syndication, (yet) and I do believe that the main reason for this is the lack of direct control I end up having.I have ventured into Partnerships over the years and with the exception of the one I have with my wife, none of them worked well for me, I understand this is more than likely a result of my approach to them, so I am confident that I can make it work, to me its a matter of finding the right place, and after a lot of conversations about Memphis I have decided this is not where I want my first Large Apartment purchase to be.I am now going to expand my search into Texas and possibly other surrounding states to see what can be found.

Best of luck to you in your venture and if you want to discuss more specifics of what I would do I'd be happy to (not sure how much it's worth, I haven't done it yet!).

You would therefore need to look at private sources of lending or joint-venturing with other investors.The administrative overhead that would come with managing two IRA accounts using leverage and therefore having exposure to UDFI taxation would be significant relative to the amount of capital you have to work with.As noted above, a self-directed IRA is not a tool YOU can use to invest in real estate.  

I would like to venture into shortsales and distressed homes within Rochester.

If they're not, SOMETHING is wrong that really should be corrected before you venture into real estate.  

Renting the homes is generally a break even venture for community owners. 

If you don't intend to live there for at least a year, I'd venture to say you may be committing mortgage fraud.

My main decision there is whether I will start debt financing my acquisitions and/or venture into multi family. 

When you decide to venture into North Carolina, feel free to reach out!

Two questions here:1) A friend wants to invest with me and doesn't just want interest for the money he's putting up, but rather to reap the benefit (or suffer the loss) of the venture.