Both our tax accountant and financial planner are against the cash out because of the fees, but we have no other option if we want to get into investing in RE.

If not, taking him to court may be your only other option.

I’d contact the title company I worked with and bam by 11 I’d have 60 years of title history...yup West coast have digital title plants.. and the other east coast the records are at court house and an abstractor has to collect them for a fee.. or you have to do it yourself.. keep in mind East coast records are far older than west coast.. we are babys .. most records start with Spanish land grants.. along with section and range descriptions.. with 90% of the searchs done in lot and block.Just like some states people actually survey an SFR before they buy it.. that simply is never done in a subdivision on the west coast if you asked for one realtors and others would look at you like your were from  Mars or maybe Venus

Besides, it doesn't sound like they would be showing up to court to fight the eviction if it comes to that.

Forbes has a habit of putting something like this out every few years.The "bad" thing about investing your IRA in real estate is that the main Wall Street players do not have control over your funds and the means to earn commissions selling financial instruments.His arguments are entirely tilted towards to negative and not providing any context or perspective.I could just as easily pick 3 or 4 historically bad stock investments (Enron) or high fee annuities, and make it sound like that was all that you could expect if you went to a conventional brokerage - which is clearly not the case.For someone who understands real estate as an asset class, there is the potential to have your IRA produce consistent returns and have true diversification away from the news-cycle volatility of conventional financial products.

It's generally a civil lawsuit filed in a magistrate or state court.

I looked into renting our house and using the 100K as a down on a new house but it makes no financial sense.

You might think that without money changing hands that it can't be binding as there's no "consideration" - but my attorney tells me that courts have held that the offer itself is a "thing of value", so the contract itself can be the consideration.It's unlikely that the unsophisticated FSBO will end up bludgeoning you with this, but if the brother-in-law turns out to be an attorney, it could go sideways.Strategically, I'd get face to face with him. 

I don't have a lot of money saved up and I currently have poor credit 580-600, but I'm interested and dedicating myself to taking the first steps of financial independence by learning the ins and outs of the real estate industry.

To be honest 140k+ of household income should put you in a pretty dominant life position even in a higher cost of living area, financially speaking - with the right plan.