@Katelin UhinckIf the commute is an issue you could buy a property that cashflows to go toward personal expenses and still have the long term benefits of having renters pay off the mortgage.

One thing that we have done is to actually sell a property with a lot of equity and then use the proceeds to pay off the loan on another property.  

Who pays utilities?

If you decide not to utilize a 1031 and pay 30% taxes each time, after 10 transactions you’ll be left with a little bit over $2,000,000.

Many people seem to complicate valuation issues more than needed, a strait forward way of looking at it is simply asking, "Would a buyer pay more for ...?"

I am considering two options for purchasing a A+++ SFR cash, Option 1 to place in a self directed IRA and let the IRA own the property and Option 2 is to buy in cash upfront and pay the taxes owed.I am 62 years old and have another five to seven years prior to retirement and so I am trying to set up my portfolio for income generation by that time.

We don't want to pay rent, and the SFH's are priced so high right now.

Pay them a little for their time.This will save you the expense and time of a Quiet Title.

I do want to separate my business and home expenses, but even if I had a business CC, I'd still have to pay it off with my personal money because its going to be awhile before I'm making income.

(Minus the small percent of the payments they’ve made that’s been considered capital gains.)My understanding is the 60 payments they make will be split up in to interest (regular taxes), capital gains (15% usually), and principle pay down (non-taxable.).