Option D: you are considered a "disqualified person" to your IRA and as such are prohibited from engaging in any transaction in an IRA or receiving any benefits from the IRA (directly or indirectly), therefore I strongly suggest you avoid this option if you wish to stay out of trouble. 

In order to do this you need to have deal flow and you need to know 1) How to recognize a good, profitable deal, 2) How to put together funds quickly to buy the deal before someone else does and in such a way where you are protected and the deal is protected, 3) How to run the project so that you follow the budget and don't overspend or overbuild, 4) How to attract an end buyer or a renter and which documents to use to protect yourself and the buyer, 5) If you are going to keep the property then you need to know how to set up the property from the start to best help you in the refinance later, and 6) You need to know how you are planning on managing the property from the beginning in order to make sure it will be profitable at the end.

As a new member, I impressed and grateful to receive the information!

As someone who’s spent a couple of decades in real estate investing, here are a few things I’d keep in mind:HOA Restrictions: You’re absolutely right to check the HOA documents.

The mailers I receive for my properties are not of a high enough quality, to make me believe the sender understands what gets a recipient to even open or read the mailer, let alone respond. 

Is it a reputable company and will the documentation provided from the study hold up in an audit?

You have received a lot of advice here already. 

I too have received my recent assessments for two G.R.

This was also confirmed when I went there to submit the required documents, but they couldn't give me a proper timeline on when it would happen claiming that they were backed up. 

So regardless of "sentiment" towards out-of-state investors you may have received from your work colleague its incorrect.