He was partially retired so that worked for him.

@Khaled Morad I learned about the Cape Coral market from a turnkey company - Rent to Retirement.

Then keep in mind there are other retirement account and stock portfolio margin accounts you can borrow against if absolutely needed.Here's the thing. 

@Richard HowellWhen lending on a primary residence make sure you follow all the CFPB laws such as using a licensed loan servicer, sending compliant monthly statements, collecting escrow and doing escrow analysis as well as sending 1099’s at end of yearLending more than a property is worth you can do but I would advise against it as you are putting your retirment funds at risk

We are debt free, assets home+cash+retirement around 550k.

Have they all retired or just sitting on the sideline for now? 

Yes I want to build a business and passive income and outsource and have a team and systems and eventually retire, but I still enjoy working too.

Is your goal to set yourself up financially for the rest of your life and retire early or is your goal to make as much extra cash as possible right now.

A couple things to note if you are going online to look for private lenders... there are differences in expectation depending on who's calling themselves a private lender.First are the true private money lenders that lend their own money from a retirement account or want to put cash to work and earn interest and points to local investors that they know and trust.Next are private lenders that have raised capital for their fund and underwrite deals based on more stringent criteria.

Some of the bigger ones are Memphis Invest/REI Nation, Mid South Home Buyers and Rent to Retirement.