Your more solid tenants want to be on the first floor, particularly in retirement areas like Marco.  

My original plan was to get rid of my retirement accounts (I have $35K in an IRA and 401K combined), take the early distribution penalty and use that to invest.

This is call passive income in which you now can have financial freedom. making around 10k-15k per month not having to work.In my opinion rehab make money but depend on how you use it to create your retirement portfolio.I hope this kinda give you an understanding about both side and answer your question.

As soon as I have enough yearly cash flow, I want to semi-retire.  

My ultimate goal is setting up for retirement and hopefully having my money work for me.

Maybe they have no money, maybe they have no contractor connections, maybe they have other projects going on, maybe their lender retired.

They also have plans to invest in real estate to help with their upcoming retirement and they are open to partner up with me.I understand the Canadian to American dollar is at .7 to 1 right now however the ROI in the US seems better and I could also leverage my parents good credit to obtain financing.I have around 5 years of industry experience as a (home owner, landlord and realtor) and would like to be hands on with the transactions, managing some of the rehabs and hands off with management.Any ideas and recommendations would be greatly appreciated.Thanks in advance.

Looking to see how I can grow and retire!

@Kyle BurnettTo learn about the 401k loan rules visit the following IRS link.https://www.irs.gov/Retirement-Plans/Retirement-Pl...

@Damien CobbsFirst, you need to decide on how you wish to invest your retirement dollars.