What they do have to be is targeted and show the benefit of using you to the investor.

Mine was a flip turn key property so with these new lower sales and the quicker relocation than I was expecting I would lose 15k just on sale price plus have to take a huge credit hit and lose my VA benefits.

Have a pre-approval loan letter handy that states how long it will take to close it and a maximum amount that you qualified for.Just try to stay as close as you can afford stay as close to the main city that you can.  

I would also bet that if the investor is buying all cash that his risk profile / tolerance is lower o/w he would be including leverage and hence, appreciation is nice to have but not the main objective.  

That being said I don't recommend your method mainly because it could be seen as taking propriety property. 

My main question is, the two properties I am looking at are fixer uppers, at least 40k will be needed.

The main reason that I left the industry and decided to come out on my own is I wanted to take back control of my own destiny and to build the thing that my family and I will owned.

There are a hundred things you could do to find deals, but mainly, just start looking and talking to everyone you know! 

You have a pre-existing developed relationship with someone, that person might be willing to go the extra mile if you use that benefit sparingly.

Essentially what it means is that you can not benefit from your IRA and it can not benefit from you.