Not going to change the world but since I'm not betting the farm I am ok with a little risk. 

A BAR SALE is the acronym for licensed brokerage activitiesAdvertiseBuyAppraiseRentSellAuction LeaseExchangeFOR ANOTHER...so using contracts to circumvent licensing is a brokerage activity.

Deja vu from 2005-2007..........Yes, you need to leverage your equity to keep moving forward....wont argue that....but to pull out ALL your equity to go buy more properties in a very high market, sounds like a huge gamble to me..... use the leverage....hell yes.....but using ALL of your equity is a huge ALL IN bet..... you better be able to back it up if there is a big correction......Guess I'm just a wimp.....hope you are right.......

The requirements of the safe harbor election for small taxpayers are: Average annual gross receipts of $10 million or less; andOwns or leases building property with an unadjusted basis of less than $1 million or less; andThe total amount paid during the taxable year for repairs, maintenance, improvements, or similar activities performed on such building property doesn't exceed the lesser of- Two percent of the unadjusted basis of the eligible building property; or$10,000 (for questions about how to calculate the unadjusted basis, refer to "Figuring the Unadjusted Basis of Your Property" in Publication 946You make the election to use the safe harbor for each taxable year in which qualifying amounts are incurred.

The house was sitting since June with no activity and they dropped it $20k and I offered $7,000 off he new price.

She would be a great contact and she is active on BP as well :) 

Broker, direct mail etc.Direct marketing / cold calling is always a good bet, in the commercial world if you get a hold of a building owner in a principle-to-principle setting you can generally have some good conversations and suss out if there is an opportunity or not. 

Build it on excel is the best bet... you can adjust it for use in the future

Your best bet would be to do a tear off of the existing roof, inspect the wood planking for rot then re shingle it.

You can not actively do 'fix up' work inside of the accounts (IF that is what a person wants to do)You want CURRENT income instead of waiting until retirement years.With all that said, I do hold quite a bit inside of retirement accounts (as do my partners).