In retail, while I have minimal direct experience lately, I was talking with some lenders about a month or two ago, as I was looking at buying a strip center myself.  

This isn't really possible unless you had a low W2 AND live in a low cost of living with minimal dependents in today's world.

Investing in syndications, passively with an unrelated party (beware of UBIT if an IRA on both of those), or just hard money loans to third parties are all great ways to invest in real estate with a retirement account to minimize as many headaches as possible.

I was forced to cash out my 401k in payments to minimize tax penalties, using it to complete house projects and pay off some debt.

Some may have minimal rental periods.  90 days is fairly common.   

If your knowledge of construction is low, you'd otherwise be relying on the GC to do everything correct w/ a reasonable level of quality (inspectors just look for minimal code compliance).   

But with showing minimal taxable income over the last 2 years, it's now hard to qualify for any type of traditional bank refinancing.

@Sean Ross  Yes, if outside of CA minimal management. 

#1 What's missing is Profitability.....Pretty weird....I think both are either losing money or just barely hanging on to minimal profits. 

(btw my belongings in my office, like the rest of my footprint in the house, will be very minimal: this small desk, quality office chair, + desktop computer. my thought is i’d put the computer in a closet + leave desk out as a workspace for guests; alternatively i could put all office in closet.)