I am an aspiring new real estate investor based in CT looking to use the power of real estate as a wealth building tool and income producing asset class.

I didn't understand why I could not get my money out of a free and clear asset. 

This also helped us in an unattended way when investing with my Solo 401k because banks treated the funds as liquid when invested in a public traded exchange versus in their fund and helped with securing better commercial financing on a deal because of the strength of our application in liquid assets.

That area in PA can also work for STR and MTR so if you buy a 4-unit, you have the option of diversifying the asset inside of itself by doing 2 LTR, 1 STR, and 1 MTR if you wanted to give yourself some options.

@Jonathan Chan Here is a list of allowable assets for SDIRA investing. 

Investor focused realtors & Property managers are going to be your biggest asset since they'll be finding your deals & managing the day to day operations for you.

We initially allowed investors to manage these properties themselves and ran into a lot of issues that affected the integrity of the neighborhood which then affected the other investors and their assets. 

So while cash is necessary to keep the property afloat, I invest more for the appreciation of the asset.

A FHA 203k Loan is where the purchase price and rehab costs are rolled into a single loan.Assuming you have a respectable FICO you can buy, with a FHA Loan (3-5% down, a 30 year amortization schedule, and a residential loan rate) AND because you closed personally, you will not have Asset Protection, in the form of closing in the name of a LLC/ LLC taxed as an S Corp, or an S Corp.

There is now some positive cash flow (not much considering the value of the asset, but a lot considering where the initial cash flow was).