Your IRA cannot lend in a way that provides a direct or indirect benefit to you or close family.There are a lot of forum posts here on BP on the topic, and you will see several of the firms that are active and supporting the BP community involved.  

It is important to know that we do encourage you to be in direct communication with your builder to get specific updates along with viewing the publicly available information from the city on permit status.

This can include indirect ownership. 

Also, many borrowers have indirect experience like JV'ing a friends deal, being a real estate agent, or having a construction background — all of these help add color to the borrowers profile.

Green board is highly efficient in bathrooms and kitchens where moisture is frequently in the air, but it is not the drywall that should be set behind tile in your shower surround or any other areas where it can come in direct contact with water."

@Mary Jay,Your self-directed IRA can lend to any non disqualified person as long as the transaction is "arms length" (you are not personally involved directly or indirectly and will not receive any benefit from the transaction).A truly self-directed IRA is held by a custodian allowing alternative investment options such as real estate, custodians such as Fidelity, Vanguard, Schwab don't allow this.

You need to look at what the guest pays to see the real cost YOU are indirectly paying.

@Jerry Benson,  one thing I'd suggest, because we had a similar situation, where it seemed like the tenants constantly complained.. is to remind them that "renting is  a 2-way street, and you want them to be happy, so if they aren't happy in the house or they think too much is wrong with it, you'll let them out of the lease early"... along those lines, it's professional, courteous... but also indirectly tells them to stop complaining or leave.  

Also you must remember that as a "disqualified person" you are not allowed to provide any services to the retirement plan or benefit from it's investments in any way, directly or indirectly.

Any one can buy it and sell it.. as long as you own it you don't need anything but the wherewithal an desire.One person had a great post with detailed expenses he sent out in rough numbers 70k in direct mail in a year and made a profit of 30k...