The marginal returns drove me to seek other strategies.So, this is not a "bad" deal if you consider it more of a learning experience than one that will make you a lot of money. 

I poured my life saving into it and make it a duplex.

By managing yourself, you keep that money in your pocket.✅ Hands-On Experience – If you plan to grow your real estate portfolio, managing tenants yourself can teach you valuable lessons about leases, maintenance, and local rental laws.✅ More Control – You’ll personally handle tenant screening, rent collection, and property upkeep, ensuring everything is done to your standards.✅ Stronger Tenant Relationships – Being involved directly allows you to build rapport with your tenants, which can lead to better communication and longer leases.Cons of Self-Managing❌ Time-Consuming – Dealing with maintenance requests, late-night emergencies, and tenant disputes can quickly become a second job.❌ Legal Risks – Chicago has strict landlord-tenant laws.

Personally, If I could pull out a HELOC, I would use it to fix and flip which will typically make sense as you shouldnt be keeping the money out for that long and you can recycle it or pay it back and build off the capital that you got from. the flip.

Many people choose NOT to have this, because the administrator will then vet every investment you make to ensure you do not invalidate your IRA.Invalidating your IRA means that you've done a prohibited transaction and the entire account is then deemed as distributed to you.If you don't want checkbook control, then I recommend a plan administrator such as Equity Trust - www.trustetc.comIf you are sure that you're aware of all the rules around prohibited transactions and disqualified people (who you can and can't do business with), then a plan administrator like Sense Financial would be a good place to start talking.  

Long-Term takes the least amount of time, Short-Term the most.Unless you have the time & discipline for this, SELL.4) If you sell, would it make sense for you to re-invest in other rental properties?

The tenants have their own W/D so I can’t make money off that.

Nothing will piss off the inspector faster than missing an inspection.My last piece of advice, in an effort to not make this a book length post, deals with the money.

Back home I would make a packet for my appraiser and never had a bad appraisal due to the that I specified the value add and the Reno amount and broke it down so they saw the potential and it always worked.  

Hi,Thank you for sharing your experience and insights from being in the private money lending (PML) and hard money lending (HML) space for decades.