Im halfway through reading (listening) the 5 books that Brandon Turner recommended in a recent post:- Rich Dad Poor Dad, - The 4 hour workweek, - The total money makeover, - The Lean Startup, and - The One Thing - The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary ResultsAnother book i recommend is The ABCs of Real Estate Investing by Ken McElroyAnyways hopefully I've informed some people who will find this useful!

The only 'extra value' that I would see in the Traditional IRA is that it could be converted into a Solo401K for the benefit of 'leveraged investing' and avoiding some of the potential tax liabilities of leveraging my ROTH within my SDIRA.Thanks, Dan Dietz

I try to be really conservative with my numbers so when that surprise comes up (notice I said when and not if) I will have some extra funds. 25k for rehab is the worst case scenario.

The other biggest benefit is, water habits don't typically change, so if you see that water usage raises by 3500 gallons a month, good clue that extra people have moved in...

I don't see anyone risking so much liability for an extra $5k.

I guess you do your homework upfront and only get it low enough to cover extra problems. 

Bottom line is out of state investing is a very serious thing and you cannot listen to anyone .. this is your money and you need to understand the risks.Quoted for truth.

I still am working a full time job but have been spending every extra moment possible reading and learning all that I can.

We have about 40k in cash but will need to pull from a HELOC for the extra which we'd rather not do.  

My parents have a property with an extra unit that I can stay for free and I don't have any real estate in my name.