Networking with local real estate meetups in Raleigh or surrounding areas could also help you find leads directly from other investors.

Yes, 401(k) plans, IRAs, SEP-IRAs and all other kinds of retirement plans are still the backbone of your wealth accumulation, especially if they are self-directed.

And for the short term goal, do a house hack as you have planned.If you need any more direction send me a message.

This is a task to handle carefully and at arms length. 

The third, I think I will break even or small profit, but it will be on the longer end of the hold, like 7+ yrs overall.I have not had any additional capital calls.

While $85K is no small number I am confident that we will be able to pay it back before the end of next year and still accomplish our goal of purchasing a minimum of one property a year.   

These books are filled with practical advice to help you avoid these mistakes that start small and snowball into major issues.

My friend knows just about every contractor within 2 hours of us and can likely fix small problems that come up.

.- Do you want to manage the new system internally or have an outside vendor manage it for you for a small fee.- Would you be requiring custom changes often to your digital workflow?

It's really impossible to give you a direct answer on your question without knowing a lot more about your plans.