You can’t have indirect benefits from property that is owned by your self-directed IRAYou can’t buy a vacation property and live in it occasionally.

I also visited the heights and saw exactly what you talked about.....lots of remodeling going on.Are you marketing (as in direct mail marketing ) for deals in houston or are you getting your deals from Realtors?

Because I'm not a realtor, I'm just interested in knowing if the listing agent will generally have a greater likelyhood of successfully negotiating a GOOD deal versus any other agent considering they are already in direct contact with the seller which happens to be the bank in this case.

Profit2. direct costs (cost of construction - studs, labor, concrete, etc.)3. indirect costs (everything else, ins, commission, permit, design fees, staging, utilities, closing costs, etc.)4. contingencyequals maximum price offered on lot.For example, your comparable sales tell you that a 3/2 1600sf house will sell for $450,000.-$135,000 profit-$128,000 direct costs-$45,000 indirect costs-$45,000 contingency=$97,000 is your max lot purchase price.

Secondly, the returns are likely to be less than in direct investing or syndication. 

Most of the old systems  put the pipes in direct contact with the cement.There is also the possibility of installing electric in wall heaters with fans and thermostat.

Indirect prohibited transaction is still prohibited transaction. 

I thank you for your indirect inspiration.

Goal would be to create a win-win of making tenants aware of solid fiscal practices (w/o being condescending) for a better life for themselves and indirectly also hopefully helping them plan to have money at the beginning of the month for us. 

I definitely agree with the part about Attorneys being conservative but I guess it is because they have seen involved, directly and indirectly, in many lawsuits on both sides during their career.