The last I checked (several years ago), only 5% of all retirement accounts are self directed but in the Information Age, more and more are becoming aware.On the other side, I have been a borrower of private Investor funds with many using self directed accounts and I can assure you that some of the advice above recommending the timing of your custodian is crucial is absolutely correct.

My work was slow and sure but the next wind storm my roof stayed on while several of the neighbors lost theirs.

I understand that trying to do this several time will raise red flags for the lenders, but what if once or twice only before going in with more cash?

The house has been in the estate several years and it looks like its finally making it to the tax sale.

I'm looking at turn key, I had followed Morris Invest for several months and had wanted to dive into real estate vs being all in stocks.

Since we are buying several of each item (we need 2-3 sets now) and hopefully will be rehabbing 8-12 by year 2/3, has anyone had success negotiating a bulk discount with either the big box brands or with a smaller family owned appliance store or even a retail distributor. 

I wouldn't want to be more than 75%-80% leveraged in order to have an exit strategy and a little protection but might consider going more if it would be to fund a deal that makes a lot of sense to do and that is the only way to make it work.The problem I am running into now is that my SFRs have appreciated over the last several years and pulling equity out to leverage them at 75% gets them to the point where they don't necessarily provide a good cash flow return since they appreciated faster than rent levels.

But, it does show that the assumptions you make when doing your modeling about inflation's impact on your income and expenses can be far reaching over a 40 year analysis.If it matters, this was based on a property in Severance, Colorado (near Fort Collins, Windsor, Greeley areas) but I don't think the property in this example has a huge impact on the difference between the scenarios.

I am looking to start a portfolio and a team, beginning with an apt real estate agent will be the cornerstone of that team - which I hope to hold for several years and several sales. 

You can list several properties as a 1031 backup if I am not mistaken.