I have some friends who are also very interested in investing here too, and they are counting on me to build a team, or find some key players with boots on the ground that we would be able to work with.

I'm sure there's some big players from those coasts trying to secure their investments.

and the state does chase people down..

I'm in Kennesaw and I have BoA and Chase, they are both equally annoying to deal with.

the bigger the deals it weeds out those that cant execute but make no mistake there is a lot of money out there and many many folks who can execute.. they just are probably not on BP  LOL.. so in your area 320 acres could be one or two lots or it can be a subdivision.. and if it has subdivision potential i am sure most of the bigger players there know about it and what can be done with it.. now you maybe able to do some of the due diligence that i have to hire and pay folks for ..

Would it be worth it to visit GA and try to deal with banks there as an out of state investor, or just go through Chase or a large national Bank?

Investment Info:

Large multi-family (5+ units) buy & hold investment in Abilene.

Purchase price: $4,200,000

Purchased a 170 unit apartment community in Abilene, TX. Rents were well below market and ...

Life is too short to chase the rent.

You need to see some consistency in the market: a) have the jobs been coming in for the last few yearsb) have the population been increasing in the last few yearsc) does the area have industries diversityd) who are the major players in the employment industry?

Forbes has a habit of putting something like this out every few years.The "bad" thing about investing your IRA in real estate is that the main Wall Street players do not have control over your funds and the means to earn commissions selling financial instruments.His arguments are entirely tilted towards to negative and not providing any context or perspective.I could just as easily pick 3 or 4 historically bad stock investments (Enron) or high fee annuities, and make it sound like that was all that you could expect if you went to a conventional brokerage - which is clearly not the case.For someone who understands real estate as an asset class, there is the potential to have your IRA produce consistent returns and have true diversification away from the news-cycle volatility of conventional financial products.