I am primarily a farmer, self employed, making ok money.

For me personally, I have a few personal finance goals that I have set for my self to achieve and once I get those I will start looking for what I consider a deal, then I'm going to make the jump (if I am able to get the deal of course, otherwise keep looking!)

I’m a native Houstonian, and have been self-employed (direct sales) since 2010. 

We are looking for a financial advisor, fee only, who is familiar with using self-directed IRA, mortgage notes, crowd-funding and retirement.

this is starting to become a self fulfilling prophecy.. for not reason other than the market is returning to balance. the risk in landlording is your units go vacant which did happen in 08.. or get run down and you do not have the funds to properly maintain them because you only have enough income to cover fixed debt.

.- no title seasoning on cash out refinances unlike FHA which has 12 months of title seasoning after purchase before you can use market value value or conventional which requires 6 months after acquisition (this applies to CO refinances where you used financing initially to purchase not DFE or delayed financing exception which is an all cash purchase and there is no lien/deed recorded on the property at the time of close), This becomes very handy for  creative RE entrepreneur once you learn how to force equity through adding value to properties you can use VA's no title seasoning advantage to increase the speed at which you move from deal to deal quicker than Conv/FHA- no self sufficiency rule when owner occupying 3-4 unit properties which FHA has (a rule that makes buying 3-4 unit FHA properties in high cost areas nearly impossible) so this a huge plus- use of rental income or other peoples income (OPI) to help you qualify on your 2-4 unit VA purchase (FHA and Conv does allow this too)There's a lot more you can do to optimize your mortgage planning from an investors perspective.With the introduction of the 2018 Tax Cuts, you can structure your taxes strategically to not only greatly reduce the tax impact but also remain bankable to most money sources.

any good self development books out there?

I’ve read enough posts and blogs to feel fairly familiar with acquiring a loan, and feel confident in managing the property.

I had done my numbers and was still worried but told my self it is what it is.

I have also seen the self-directed IRA option.