I included stats on percent unleveraged purchases and that many of those fairly low percent cash purchases in fact use unseen leverage HML, private lending, etc and some are short term cash holds such as a flip or a brrrr that gets financed not long after purchase.  

@Luke H.Hi Luke,  As a private money lender myself I will focus on one element of your deal---5 years is a long time to be finally paid. 

Actually the IRS does not tell us what we can invest in, only what is disallowed (life insurance contracts and collectibles).Allowable investments for SDIRA investing include the following:Residential real estate, including: apartments, single family homes, and duplexesCommercial real estate Undeveloped or raw landREITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts)Real estate notes (mortgages and deeds of trusts)Promissory notes Private limited partnerships, limited liability companies, and C corporationsTax lien certificatesOil and gas investmentsPrivate stock offerings, private placementsJudgments/structured settlementsGold bullion Factoring investments

Quote from @Michael Smythe: Besides MANY self-labeled "gurus" exaggerating their success, many of them just supply readily available info.If you're too busy to find the info and are willing to pay for it, no problem as you accept their time vs money solution.REGARDING S8 GURU ISSUES SPECIFICALLYMost of them don't share all the facts about how Section 8 actually works.They claim you can get HIGHER rent from S8 tenants vs private-paying tenants.Why would the government allow our tax dollars to be spent this way?

The duplex has done well because it has a great backyard/garden area and each unit has a private deck and W/D.

And if your investor friend’s private loan helps fill in any gaps, it might be worth considering that short-term pain for long-term stability.What do you think you’d focus on first... paying off that line of credit as fast as possible or jumpstarting the renovation to boost cash flow right away? 

From google: “The Fair Housing Act (FHA) does not apply to certain types of rentals, including: Owner-occupied buildings: If the building has four or fewer units and is owned by the person who lives there Single-family homes: If the owner rents or sells the home without using a real estate agent, and they own no more than three homes Religious organizations: If the property is only available to members of the organization's religion Private clubs: If the property is only available to members of the club Senior housing: If the property is designated for people who are at least 55 years old Even if a property is exempt from the FHA, it must still comply with the law's ban on discriminatory statements, notices, or advertising.

If you have a lease with this tenant that allows them the dogs, you can still say they are in violation of the lease, I'll bet, by something in the lease that says they aren't to bother the neighbors or cause any disturbances, etc.

Financial Highlights•Acquisition Price: $72,000•Renovation Costs: $35,600•Total Investment: $107,600•Funds: raised from personal savings and private lenderHow did you add value to the deal?

Now, I’m diving into the niche of land investing.When I was pursuing the BRRRR strategy, one of the aspects that made scaling seem feasible was the availability of hard or private money lenders.