Try contacting the Small Business Administration.

You would therefore need to look at private sources of lending or joint-venturing with other investors.The administrative overhead that would come with managing two IRA accounts using leverage and therefore having exposure to UDFI taxation would be significant relative to the amount of capital you have to work with.As noted above, a self-directed IRA is not a tool YOU can use to invest in real estate.  

Additionally, there is an annual $800 filing fee for each CA LLC (each year), not to mention the additional administrative requirements that must be adhered to to ensure full liability protection, and then finally the hassle of the LLC filings themselves.That seems to be a fairly significant burden to incur on a property by property basis since these are only single family rental properties that generate only about 35k in rents a year.

You will want to dig much deeper than internet forums or even the sales reps at most self-directed firms to ensure you have a strategy that will produce results without unnecessary regulatory risk or too much administrative overhead.  

But I'm not sure about all the administration and complexity of that either? 

Just an inspection by the contract administration.  

I'm assuming there are some administrative charges added.I also understand that you have to do some preliminary title research yourself prior to the sale to ensure you're not bidding on a second mortgage or their are title issues.Is there an order the properties are auctioned off?

@Tom Smith Although I agree, REI is a great suggestion for the potential returns and tax benefits, the hidden fees you mention aren't necessarily a 401k problem, but the a downside of certain 401k administrators and custodians that unnecessarily limit participants in their plans.

I only know basic php from building Wordpress sites.

Naturally, we charge a higher rent ($450 - $500/month) when renting by the room than if we let an entire house on a single lease ($360 - $425 per room per month): since we are carrying the utilities, have more administrative overhead and have to deal with housemate drama.