However, nearing retirement, with our past experience in mind, we decided to try it again, this time just rehabbing one house to flip.So, I set up a self-directed IRA so we could use the retirement money we had left after the recession, and bought a foreclosure house that needed a lot work.

It varies by lender from what I've seen as to when they decide they will wait to close. 

Like you, I focus on the sell side but decided to try the buy side with BP lead generation. 

Quote from @Heath Sizick: The best to you in whatever you decide. 

From here you could decide if you want to stay on the passive side of things as an LP, or if you want to begin raising capital for your own deals / funds based on your track record of investing with other experienced operators and being part of the masterminds that you're in.

I'm not in that market so I can't speak specifically to it, but to me the deciding factor would be what the surrounding units and area has. 

I'm considering buying a small single family home near a hospital in the Midwest to turn into a MTR, and trying to decide if it's worth the investment to furnish vs. going straight to LTR.

Id say the main question here to decide if there is a conflict of interest.....is the person saying buy rentals....are they buying rentals themselves?

In the end, the investor is responsible for making good, informed decisions and for knowing precisely what their needs are as investors.  

Honestly I never know precisely, as I'm constantly buying and selling, and frankly I neither know or care.