I want to add the stability of real estate into my portfolio and patiently grow that investment and harvest the tax benefits of long-term investment.

I also have a seperate list of courthouse data, Probates, Divorce, Tax leins, Ect.

However, the self employment could (or could not) pose an issue depending on how much you pay yourself yearly and what you report on your tax returns.  

The last thing you want is to buy something and the Agent's estimate on rent and/or reassesed taxes was wrong and you end up with a non income producing property. 

It's not worth risking the invalidation of your IRA account which would cause penalties and taxes.  

To add to this there may be some tax related questions you may want to speak with your accountant about. 

As an agent, I scrub the tax and property records for data to find off market deals and skip trace using a combination of spokeo (alright) and batch skip tracing (better) and call using mojo dialer. 

If you are cashing out then don't forget your taxes.

You get all the benefits of real estate (cash flow, appreciation, tax benefits) with none of the headaches of becoming a landlord.Food for thought, and something I wish I'd figured out much earlier in my real estate investing career. 

Price, taxes, location and life style continue to be the big attractions.