That said, an umbrella doesn't have anything to do with the original question of the thread. 

I own a small multifamily commercial in Albuquerque and can confirm the diversity of the economic and cultural factors that you mentioned. 

Go to BUILD YOUR TEAM at the top of the screen and look for local investors or meetups in your area.

Based upon the screenshots of the software it looks like Investor's Edge software is just a white label of Propstream. 

I would also purchase the property and not the LLC unless you are a seasoned investor with a good attorney.

I wrote the above for informational purposes.

One of the lady in the session signed up with them and did not like the program very much.

You would only pay taxes on all passive investments in a traditional SDIRA at distribution, unless you have a mortgage, then the portion of the income derived because of the mortgage will be subject to UDFI (unrelated debt finance income) which will trigger UBIT (unrelated business income tax). 

This vary heavily town to town. 20% down is great if buying strictly as investment but if you have a way of owner occupying I would explore that route and apply the 20% down to increasing value of property and instead using low money down loan. 

Quote from @Victor Yang:In addition, is it possible for me and my wife to gift 36k worth of equity per year of the house (under the annual exclusion limit) and therefore have none of the costs go towards the lifetime gift limit?