Which have been the most valuable for you and why? 

Also note that any reimbursement from insurance will affect if you have a loss (or potentially a gain). 

Barf.I’m trying to think about the long-term gain of a great property, not the short-term loss on cash flow.

We also have a rental home we are wanting to sell and am wondering if the cost of building out a 1 bedroom 1 bath apartment complete with kitchen and living area would qualify to offset some of the capital gains when we sell our rental in the coming month? 

Second question, Should I go toward the top of my budget (qualified at $260,000 and currently looking at properties near that amount) at the start, or should I scale back and do a smaller property a little further away to test the waters and gain some experience with finding and managing tenants, but will allow me to easily afford the mortgage in the event of vacancy.Any advice, or criticism, would be greatly appreciated.

So, if your Self Directed IRA is 75% partner with another entity, then it must collect 75% of the profit (rental income, sold gains, etc), it must also contribute 75% of the expenses (rehab, insurance, taxes, etc).I am not sure about loaning to a partner. 

in addition to above, (good advice), you dont have to pay capital gains tax on this when you sell if it appreciated in value but only because you lived there. if you turn it into a rental, you will be on the hook for capital gains tax

I've found it to be valuable to join a local REIA. 

There is so much knowledge you can gain cheap or free!

There are formulas and spreadsheets used to back out into the valuation price of a property and this does include pro forma rates, but the current leases you hold that gain you rents NOW is the major factor in calculating a price value.