When we originally engaged the Seller about purchasing the home she had her termite company check the house again.

I always thought of Roth IRAs as being "tax-free" but it appears that they are subject UBIT if it seems that the IRA "entity" is engaged in activity the IRS considers to be "unrelated" to it primary purpose (in this case, investing for retirement)...Is there anybody out there who is doing this?

Do you engage in that written agreement before the property is purchased or after?

They met and got engaged. 

Yonasan, I'm glad to hear that you engaged your 401k provider and attorney to get this straighten out!

@Mark MaisonneuveFirst off congratulations on two fronts; your engagement and your pursuit of Real Estate. 

Without considering both, it's easy to do something that might save you $1000 bucks on your taxes but cost you $3K a year in extra time to implement.We've had an accountant for two decades, but we only recently engaged a bookkeeping service to help us build and implement the daily financial management systems that lead to better, more strategic financial decisions.Man, do I wish we had done this from the start!

But if the average home in your particular market is selling at 90% of asking, an offer of 85% may actually be in the ball park.Either way, your agent should engage the buyer with a counter offer and should be negotiating on your behalf.

A lot of people can talk a great game, but looking someone in the eye and seeing their product in person is absolutely the best way to suss out the gamers from the good guys. 

There's no right or wrong answer, but I'd encourage you to really nail down your priorities re: time, energy, engagement, and returns.