Welcome @Ruth AbdulaiAlways good to have other WNY people around to offset all those West Coasters!

@Nichole StohlerI find using a SDIRA to be a great tool for passive investments and growing your retirement with less stress than the stock market roller coaster. 

Been on the ride when the market was stable and rode the roller coaster. 

Let's see if I'm in for a nice ride or a roller coaster ride. :-)

Nobody really knows how stable the oil field will be but I can just about promise you, the oil field isn't going away in the near future, but it will probably be a roller coaster ride as in it's history.

In my opinion:Flippers - More of a roller coaster ride, one day you are going broke and the next day you have a huge pay day. 

The difference is that you won't see as much appreciation explosion in Pittsburgh, which is as you said not always a bad thing. 15 Properties in California today though (even with a roller coaster) would be a LOT of houses in Pittsburgh if they were in Oakland with that 14% appreciation or San Fran/Vallego with that 8% plus. 

The loan process is a nasty roller coaster. 

If you didn't have to get off the roller coaster, it went back up.  

It's going to be a roller coaster, but if you've ran the numbers and feel confident about the comps, go for it.