There is no such absolute rule or mandate for REI - it is up to you on your comfort level with your cash flow versus total investment versus appreciation potential.If I followed that rule, I would have missed out on a LOT of great opportunities over the years.We bought a house in Jones Valley in 2017 with negative cash flow - why? 

I've bought my last 3 house at fairly conservative pricing and reinvested into them.

PS; What ever I'm doing isn't working because we haven't bought anything. 

Quote from @Daniel Saravia: anybody here had bought real estate using self directed IRA?

My wife and I just bought our first condo over the summer and plan to turn it into a rental later on down the road.

I bought it because it was supposed to be easier to keep up with than traditional, but I've had to rebalance the ph myself several times.  

I bought 3 more cash flowing properties with zero out of pocket by doing a cash out refi on it.

I bought a duplex house near Scranton this past year and it is rented out . 

I bought this rug from Walmart.

I only bought sub to if there was enough equity day one to either flip with no work or there was margin to do a rehab and then sell..