You can buy properties in beach locations overseas that will bring as much rental income as a similar property in California or Florida but at a fraction of the price. 

@Skip ReathAn IRA is either tax-deferred or Roth, so it is not possible to have a single IRA based structure that can hold both.You would need to setup a Traditional self-directed IRA and a Roth self-directed IRA and rollover in-kind the appropriate fractional holdings of the 401(k) holdings into each.If you can find a means to be legitimately self-employed going forward so that you could have a Solo 401(k), that would provide a more elegant solution.There are some providers who might recommend having an IRA owned LLC where the LLC itself is fractionally owned by traditional and Roth IRAs in partnership. 

When banks take possession of massive amounts of properties, it only means prices plummet and they sell for fraction of loan value.

And you can buy multiple replacement properties or fractional interests.

Now I have an umbrella policy, which was a fraction of the price.

Yes, you can trade out of one property, multiple, or fractional and trade into one property, multiple, or fractional. 

I’m sure I haven’t thought of even a fraction of it’s potential!

To get your real estate license by comparison, is a pathetic fraction of that amount.

Performance during a downturn has been a question mark in my mind for performing notes. 9-10% yield without volatility (like the markets) sounds nice but if even a fraction of the note portfolio goes non-performing then it darkens the whole picture, even makes buying stocks/bonds look like the better option again.Is this a fair assessment?

If you 1031 into a different property, here is a quick list of your options:single-family residentialmulti-family residentialcommercialresortfarm or ranchstorage facilitynet-lease managementunimproved landwater rightsoil rightstimber rightsproperties with a TIC structure or other fractional interestsoptions to purchaseconservation easementsDelaware Statutory TrustsSo you can use your proceeds as a down payment on any of these as long as your intent is to hold them for long-term use (investment or business).