I second Self-Storage as a VERY worthy vehicle for you to explore before cutting any checks.

You have two basic ways to make money using the real estate vehicle..

The vehicle would need to be financed and owned by the corporation- not your personal names. 

How do you handle tenants doing drugsHow do you handle noise complaintsHow do you handle vehicle violationsHow do you keep a tenant long term?

This also means any tax bennies, so this won't have any depreciation deduction advantage either.Using a SDIRA (I do) for REI is a great way to finance a property (and a He&& of a lot better return on the investment than most any other vehicle your SDIRA could use), but much like Los Vegas, what happens in your SDIRA, stays in your SDIRA.

See following IRS link to learn more about the rollover as business startup vehicle. http://www.irs.gov/Retirement-Plans/Employee-Plans...

It is not particularly close to the subway, however there are buses that remove the reliance on a vehicle.

Long story really but ill try to make things as short as possible.So lets cut to the chase, I currently work as a contractor for a cable company driving around my own vehicle picking up cable boxes on suspended accounts in Detroit MI (...yes i know).

People I meet either love real estate or hate it as an investment vehicle.  

we have some of our units insured by USAA (as well as our vehicle coverage) and some by Farmers.