The person who paid last would have priority status although in your example the person who paid the 1st year would have a right to redeem the property by paying the person who paid for the 2nd/3rd year in your example. 

Others are larger and need permits, hence "wide loads" status.  

Long story short, they were mutual friends of the people I was buying the house from on facebook.

Do open houses every chance you get, put together a facebook marketing campaign using the "power editor" if you dont know what that means google it.  

By doing this youavoid paying the 10% early distribution penalty but improve the tax advantaged status of your retirement account.

I had to pull the ad from Facebook in a half hour, could not keep up.

They both had paycheck jobs and a side business with a web site/Facebook presence and all.  

What is their status in terms of leases?

I come across a ton of different leadgen services and marketing platforms covering everything from helping you setup your Facebook seller listing campaign to automating your direct mail marketing.What other online tools and services are you using to help you in the real estate biz? 

If the net after-tax return from a flip is better than the income from being a landlord or hard money lender (not to mention owning shares of Exxon or Facebook), then perhaps that is the highest and best use of those IRA dollars.