Hey Matt,With $50K in a self-directed IRA, there are several strategies you could explore to generate both short- and long-term returns, depending on your risk tolerance and investment goals.

Commercial Revenue Generating properties like office buildings, apartment buildings, retail centers, etc (banks call it "CRE" lending) are typically evaluated from their net operating income, not gross.

Generational Wealth: If your SDIRA invests in real estate, those assets can pass to your heirs, benefiting from the step-up in basis (outside the SDIRA) or continued tax-advantaged growth if inherited in a beneficiary IRA.

Unfortunately I was not able to put much away for retirement most of my life so I was thinking about attempting to buy 4 rental units over the next 4 years with the hopes of building up something that could generate income in 5 to 7 years to supplement my retirement at 68.

Then you 2 would agree on how you would split the profits once the property is generating cash flow and the original equity is returned.

After 45 + years as a real estate investor, broker, lender, fund manager and syndicator, I’ve become aware that the “dream” of many investors and investor “hopefuls” is to be able to generate enough cash flow to live off their real estate holdings and accumulate enough wealth to make “work” optional.

You have come to the right place to explore different ways to generate passive income.

DSCR loans focus on the cash flow generated by the property rather than your personal DTI.

Leverage is were the return is largely generated. 

More likely, he is hoping to use the extra time to collect more rents and thus more fees to generate the funds to pay his owner clients:(