When picking a market, I would look for things like population and job growth, rental demand, and economic diversity—basically, is the area attracting people and businesses?

yes, its a people business.

Many people choose NOT to have this, because the administrator will then vet every investment you make to ensure you do not invalidate your IRA.Invalidating your IRA means that you've done a prohibited transaction and the entire account is then deemed as distributed to you.If you don't want checkbook control, then I recommend a plan administrator such as Equity Trust - www.trustetc.comIf you are sure that you're aware of all the rules around prohibited transactions and disqualified people (who you can and can't do business with), then a plan administrator like Sense Financial would be a good place to start talking.  

Until then, I'll be trying to absorb everything I can to fine tune my approach and prepare for managing REI business post-acquisition.

Plus the street isn't a busy one.  

Edit: For SFH A simple answer: everything is negotiable and every agent runs their business differently.

A good real estate accountant can save you thousands of dollars by leveraging entity selection and formation, tax deductions, cost segregations, bonus depreciation and tax planning.I recommend finding an accountant specializing in real estate taxation, business taxation, financial planning and tax planning.Consider working with your accountant remotely to expand your options.I would also recommend looking for an accountant willing to work with you throughout the year.

A formal business built on this seems overkill as you’re essentially paying someone for a service that already has standard model.If you and the parnter have distinct business tasks/abilities (i.e. not what you would hire an agent or contractor for), such as off-market lead generation, that’s a different discussion.

A lot of family businesses cannot stay in business upon parent death due to no longer getting the prop 13 property tax discount.  

I don't do app development but I was told for most sites and businesses it's a lot of work for low payback.