Let alone enjoying the lifestyle you have as a self-employed business owner.

The employer splits the check into 2 parts.

From what I have been learning about it, the important things to research are the turnkey companies themselves and the areas to invest, both at the city level (because you want a city with growing employment potential among other things) and at the neighborhood level (because you don't want a high crime rate area, etc).

My main concern is that I've only been employed for a little less than a year.

You are an hour to Augusta, I see - Augusta has population density, lots of apartment buildings/market for rentals, and a more stable employment base than much of the state thanks to it's status as the state's capitol/state jobs. 

Just another reason I left State employment, some at a higher regulatory level are no better than those they are trying to regulate!

I have a simple IRA that was started through a previous employer that I think I would like to self direct.

I know my employer 401k has limits on the amount of the loan I can take are there loan limits on self directed plans?

I was so "into it" that I registered and started an investment club - the Boise Stock Exchange, where I taught my techniques to others (for free - it was a meetup group).I was met with skepticism from other traders, simply because they had; never traded futures, had heard horror stories about trading futures, knew nothing about how to trade futures, and could not fathom the amount of risk I was taking or the leverage ratio I was employing.  

Commingling different types of contract obligations with various investor strategies, at an investor's whim, is dangerous, your contracts must "fit" the strategy to be used.I'm not saying you can't mix contract obligations, I'm saying you can't employ just any strategy (like wholesaling) with agreements that, in this case can't be assigned lawfully unless you modify your strategy to conform to the type of agreement being made.