I do a lot of flips and we try to do as many of the big ticket items as are reasonable because it is easier for a buyer to pay that extra in their monthly mortgage than it is for them to save up the money after the fact.

My husband and I have been researching how to retire early and what we've learned about money is real estate is a powerful tool to make money and keep a constant cash flow.

I will save his contact information and speak with him possibly today.  

My understanding of a self-directed retirement account, though, will make it so that the income from the rental will have to go back into the account and we cannot use it as passive income for our normal personal expenses.  

Saving around 10,000 would take me twos so if I'm able to get by with a lower down payment I will gladly do so..I understand  concerns that the lower the down payment  the bigger your mortgage and that banks offering low money down loans partly caused the recession....

This structure allows account holder to bypass the custodian and obtain checkbook control over their retirement moneys. 

I had an early retirement and have been watching some money I have sit there for many years.

I'm Melvin, a retired, newbie RE investor looking to make and close my first deal.

In my opinion doing that makes sense if you're "saving" part of the commission on your end.

I do not have personal experience investing in flyover states, so take this with a grain of salt.This is my 'gut reaction,' which could 100% be totally off & I'll defer to those with actual experience 100%...Any place you are buying that has tenants paying 2x in rent what they could otherwise pay in PITI because the [ $70k * 3.5% = $2450 ] down payment is too much of a down payment for them to save up, isn't exactly going to have high quality low maintenance intelligent people as tenants.