At what point do you draw a line in the sand and say, I'm only pulling out $X?

Please keep in mind I am not a contractor or engineer, so please don't laugh at my drawings!

If you can secure a commercial multifamily residence within that range within 180 days, you carry over the basis of the two sold properties into the new one and defer any gains recognized to the newly acquired property to be recognized upon the future sale of the property or further deferred with a subsequent 1031 exchange.

Question: Should closing costs be included in property value (and subsequently in appreciation and ROE)?

This is now your cash that you can invest as you choose and personally draw the income.With a self-directed IRA, you get to keep 100% of the funds. 

I have to put 12K of my own cash into an escrow and request draws when the work is complete...and pay draw fees!!

I had a conversation with someone a while back who did exactly what people have "implied" about using the VA Loan but not in the way they are supposed to....Here's what happened to her.....She got the VA Loan.....and suddenly at the last minute decided not to occupy the property....and subsequently decided to rent it out to a relative who she trusted......You know the rest of the story...........Relative and her got into an argument a few months after the "relative" started renting from her......relative decides she isn't going to pay rent until things get settled......THe veteran can't keep floating that mortgage payment,...and the "tenant" knows this.....threatens to tell the VA Lender about the fraud, etc....After all....those "courtesy" notices are being sent to the property to the OWNER with her name and it has the Loan Number, the amount, etc...it was all bad.Someone else I had a conversation with did the same thing...only he rented to a tenant that he screened.....tenant sees all the VA stuff from the lender and from other banks coming in the mail and tells owner about it.....owner says ignore it.

I was doing some research and it looks like I have to draw the layout concisely and so much more but i needed some more information to go ahead with the process Thanks I hope this was enough  information to get some answers or I have explained it enough for understanding 

factor that really draws them in.

That will give you a good way to judge whether or not that's the type of Market you want to invest in.If you were looking at vacation rentals, make sure you look at an area that has some type of draw.