@Jason JamesSelf-directed IRAs can be a great way to combine the benefit of real estate investing with the tax advantages of your retirement funds.

You can combine my two suggestions and they will work fine together.You might be asking yourself "Who is this guy"? 

Combining this strategy with the strategy above may be all you need to get your mortgage down to a much more manageble rate in a short ammount of time.

They have a combined 45 years of experience with rehabs, new construction, and commercial in Chicago so I have naturally learned a lot from them over the years and tend to trust their judgment.My questions - Is 25% down overkill?

You have many ways to get a loan but the most common ways are the following:FHA:This allows you to put the least amount of money down - 3.5%, however, you have to pay Mortgage Insurance, which can be a little pricey, that combined with the higher loan amount because you are only putting 3.5% will increase your monthly mortgage payment. 

RUBS is a Ration Utility billing system that allocates 100% of the property's utility bill to the residents based on an occupant factor, square footage or a combination of both, less a predetermined percentage of a common area allowance.To put it in easy words, you still pay, but are able to bill back to tenants. 

In single family, most of the time trash, water and sewer are combined onto one bill.

Weve had more rain in the past 30 days than probably in the last 5 years combined.

I am trying to decide between using the 203k loan which I know limits my options or if I should use a combination of private money and a HELOC that I am applying for as we speak.

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