It has lead to my first 2 deals and I currently have another short sale under contract for my 3rd this year.

Now the short answer is, unless you clean every square inch the property is still contaminated.

Of course they are a day late and a dollar short.

I have set short term and long term goals to get rid of the debt, I will get rid of most of it in the next year to year and half.

hard money is short term money... and expensive.. not intended for periods of over a year .. interest and points will kill any cash flow investment. 

In short, the funds need to be separate, but you can jointly own property in both SDIRAs through Tenancy in Common.

I don't know how to do that other than short sale so if there is something that I don't know please let me know.

Sometimes you have to do what you do not want to do short term to get where you want to get long term.

Check out my profile for more detail, but the short version is: I was a Realtor/Loan Officer in HI between 2004-2006, so I understand that aspect.

Unless you have a unique way of generating a higher return and can attract investor capital or are investing your own self-directed IRA and buying in cash (most current buyers/hence long horizon), it's going to be tough for you.