I would never own rental properties in my personal name.

Most I have found are never local.

Recommend exploring as many sources as possible to get referrals AND cross-reference them to get as much accurate information as possible.Check out NARPM.com, BP’s Property Manager Finder (BiggerPockets: The Real Estate Investing Social Network), etc.Also, encourage you to learn from the mistakes of others - by reading posts here on BiggerPockets about owners not having their expectations met by their current Property Management Company.

I recognize this is not the sole source of return, but the other sources have their return increase with smaller equity position. 

Have never received a distribution and It’s extremely difficult to get communication and financials. 

Yelp is a good source because it lets you read reviews of actual customers.

The returns will likely be greater if you source the borrower and originate on behalf of the IRA.

One thing to be aware of, and I hope that this never happens to any of you guys, is my connected bank link somehow failed or became disconnected?

We've seen the rental market soften here in the greater SD area as whole, prices may continue to soften towards the end of the year. 

The problem with that is that now you're no longer tracking what you've paid to actual vendors, so you lose the ability to issue 1099's and know what you've paid who at the end of the year.