When you transfer retirement funds into a self directed account you can certainly buy real estate with it. 

@Abigail KingThe important ones have already been covered by others here but a "real estate adjacent"/financial freedom book I recommend is Retire Young, Retire Rich by Kiyosaki.

We have done all kinds of deals on our own ranging from buying, selling, flips, BRRRRs, and now are also invested in commercial properties along with our SFR portfolio.After retiring from the Navy last summer (2023) and working in a corporate office for 18 months, I have made the leap to working for REI Nation, the country's premier turnkey investment property company.

I had called them my travel retirement plan but learned that I've actually lost money on them by sitting on them so now I spend.  

So I’m trying to see if I take that equity off the table and re-invest the sale proceeds in another market across more doors where we’ll see better appreciation, OR if we continue keeping it as a rental and work on principal pay down even though the rental price has been coming down and the home is not the easiest to fill because of the above average price for the C- to B neighborhood.Ultimately, my stated goal has been to build appreciation (over cash flow) by acquiring 1-4 doors per year for the next 10 years to allow my wife to retire (or be work optional) by the time she's 50.

With the boomers retiring there are much more opportunities in biz than in RE right now.

. :)  I hope to retire in a year and 2 months. 

You guys want to invest/retire so the equity can be invested in the next deal.

We are now looking to get serious about funding our retirement.

That's not a trivial amount of money, but it won't leave you on the streets when you're retirement age.You got this!