I'm working on building my network but at this point don't have the knowledge of any private money lenders. 

I am trying to get an answer from my exchange intermediary who says that is a question for my CPA.

In other words you receive a 30% tax credit on the solar system as well as a 30% tax credit at the least on the roof that is under the solar system (full roof 30% depends on the advice of your CPA).Couple that with the roof now becoming a producing asset and offsetting the utility bill instead of a liability and the increase in appraised home value assuming the solar system is not leased then going solar makes a lot of sense at the same time as replacing/repairing a roof.

Tom Wheelright (rich dad advisor, cpa) has quite a bit to say about using 401k/IRA for real-estate investing.  

I think we’ve got a pretty great town for networking, so hopefully I’ll get the network built up nice and strong here as quick as possible

hi,I’m new in the real estate business, I’m in search of where to find real estate networking events, and any agencies recommendations.

Networking  like crazy will probably open doors too.

This is not accounting advice and you should consult a CPA or tax attorney.

I used excel for a long time but I got a new CPA and she made me start using quickbooks.

Look for local meetups (meetup.com) - I'm sure Houston has plenty of them and that's an excellent place to start your networking.