You have to be careful with your IRA investing- you can't contribute money from outside your IRA to your investment when extra costs pop up (and they usually do.)

You will need to resort to some off market tactics or wait until a property that meets your criteria pops on the market.

will update again in a month if any horrors pop up. 

If a personal were to rent and pop those remodel expenses into the S&P500 over the same time, chances are the renter comes out ahead :)

Hands down, you should take a serious look at syndication, MF large apts in growth markets (pop/jobs growing > natl averages, diversified job base), projects that are value add only w/sponsors who practice conservative underwriting and have a solid track record of delivering investor value.

Another multi family won't pop up any time soon and if it does I won't be in the same position to get it (I know the broker, and my lender is the brokers good friend) these go within 1-2 days every time.

Searching for 5-25 unit, mom and pop, value add apartments in the Jacksonville Fl and Columbus Ga markets.

Then I'd be on the lookout for established wholesalers and investors in your area that pop up from your keywords.4.

But I plan on visiting many of the cities that pop up on BP that are supposedly good places to invest and meet with as many property managers and wholesalers as we can.

Most of the ones in Goose Creek were built around 1960-1980, and some recent developments have popped up.