The only way I KNEW it was a good deal is I had been researching two areas for about a year. 

Afterwards set up a payment plan with her with a balloon payment in 3 to 5 years.

A FICO score requirement of 650 or higher, along with at least three years of consistent income that's 3X the monthly rent, are also a good ideas.

In our market it is important to make sure they are a licensed broker, carry adequate GL and worker's comp (and name you as additional insured).  

Something to consider maybe using one of these companies to help find a house, refine your process by example of what they are doing, then taking over management for a year and seeing how it goes.

although we bought about 6 years ago or so for 270 put 100k into it so you can do the math  no debt .. hoa 400  we pay utls. 200 or so.. so 600 a month out of the 3500.. tax's about 1500 a year ( got to love Vegas taxs ) value today right at 600k.. so lets say we net about 33k a year on 370k cash .. so not bad little under 10% COC with an outstanding tenant one of the best I have ever had.PS given tenant quality we manage ourselves.. 

For most lenders, they wanna see a 12 year lease in order to count the income to help your debt income ratio. there are not many lenders that I know of that will include short term or midterm income as part of the income side of your DTI. 

Since you and your husband bring 20+ years of residential construction experience to the table, you already have a huge advantage.

I want to buy another note in my SDIRA but I’d have to wait a full year before having enough to buy a decent one.

What is the service life on this piece of equipment.If it has capacitors the service life could be 10 years, or they may have a service life of more than that, but they don't live forever (what about repairs?).