I am debating about the converting the existing old gutted building to either multifamily building (6 units each around 500 sqft small studio) or mix of 4 residential and 2 retail/restaurant conversion (the back side of the property has Big enough lot for outdoor dining or any other use cases.Any recommendations for use case of pure multifamily or mixed of multi family and retail?

You may choose to invest in real estate directly by acquiring a property, or passively by investing through a syndication (or by being a lender to someone else.  2) pencil out the numbers to see if the math is in your favor for a Roth Conversion and real estate investment with a SDIRA.

@Jeff T.Maybe you're no expert but you bring some interesting points to the conversation so no need to apologize!

Try to buy after 1950 and avoid single family conversions.

It can be a conversation in search of a win-win, a mutual effort vs adversarial negotiation as on-market is designed to be. 

Have a conversation with them.  

If your lease does not address this, then I recommend you have the conversation quickly.I give tenants two options: 1.

Have a conversation and see how they feel about seller financing.  

For me, it has been multifamily for these three, but I am also interested in self-storage and hotel conversion, maybe industrial flex in the future.

These areas offer a mix of renovated bungalows, new construction, and industrial conversions, with increased demand from young professionals.