If you want to keep buying more houses with the cash, or want to use the cash for other investments, or just to have it on hand, then it would make more sense to finance.Most people are financing today in some fashion, whether a cash-out refinance or just a straight-up loan out of the gate, because interest rates are so historically low.

My wife was more into power tools than jewelry and still trying to lay bathroom tile at 7 months pregnant ... she's a keeper :-) Hopefully by the time you have kids, you'll be ready to graduate to the next step in your REI career anyhow.

If not, any other options, like self-direct IRA, may work in similar fashion?  

If you are $10k short that’s different than $200kYes you will definitely want to get a private / hard money lender involved and see if they will fund it in this fashion.

It's pretty risky but with proper planning you may be able to knock over a bank or jewelry store!

Ya know Devin, if you don't like a reply, feeling it's too short, simple, basic, you could do this weird old-fashioned thing called "ASK".   

I've had great experiences with borrowers who understand we as brokers/lenders charge reasonable fees for the services we provide and they provided their documents in a timely fashion so the loans could proceed as scheduled.  

You may not purchase a property and pledge your IRA as collateral in any fashion,The IRA could purchase the property and obtain a non-recourse mortgage.

Some counties/states are not issuing permits or scheduling inspections making it impossible to get permits in a timely fashion and you will need to plan for that.

Connecting with a realtor and property manager in the area the old fashioned way?