They are not illegal per se, just not worth the risk involved when there are other more suitable strategies such as wrapping.

I've read books and listened to podcasts but was looking for a more involved way to fill these knowledge gaps.

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My fil owns the property involved with the farm which he inherited from his father. 

In my case, it will cost me about $400 personal time without any lawyers involve just in one day.  

The fees and involvement of the Self-Directed IRA custodian can be significantly minimized by investing your IRA funds via an LLC as you will have checkbook control over the funds. 

If I was going to only be able to wholesale this property, I would not have gotten this deal.I still love wholesaling and I do it all the time but these are three lessons that I definitely have learned that have added some water tools to my tool belt in order to be more effective in my business.We are looking for some passive partners who would be interested in getting involved in some of our rental and flip deals in New York from a passive perspective.

And also, i'd assume there's no financing involved? 

The deal is a COD with mutually beneficial T's and C's but this only holds if the commissions are not involved.

I have a bad habit of using that term with SBA loans as they don't always have real estate involved.