To add to @Ashish Acharya, I would recommend using your retirement funds for notes that earn a nice interest rate, if you're into self directing.Given that you want to purchase a short term rental, I'd highly recommend not doing this within an IRA/401k. 

curious how do they structure a note purchase that is not all cash. did they already own the note and just sold the note to you or something ?  

I would be interested in connecting with 1-2 people based in SoCal that would like to meet in person periodically to compare notes.

As noted above, a cash deal with all capital liquid in an account today is going to be taken much more seriously than a financed deal or a syndicated deal.  10% EM hard at contract signing and a 45 day close with no extensions will be taken more seriously than 3% EM hard after 30 days, with a 60 day close and 2x 30 day extensions.  

Years ago in Oregon and Washington.. we did not need money all you had to do is give an EM  NOTE ..

I have yet to have a guest ask for a refill or mention the quality (I tried to pick a nice-looking, not-too-expensive brand).Be careful with the scents -- I had a run of people pulling out and hiding the scents and one or two people complained that they were scent-sensitive in private notes. 

Also, please note, there are many nuances about the STR market on O'ahu so this is a brief overview.  

Note, this is not a longterm strategy.

Note that at these cap rates, you will see close to zero cash flow. 

As @Rereloluwa Fatunmbi noted, it was a BP agent.