Send the other 50% of the day on lead generation.

It would generate $2,100 per month.

The engineers' opinion initially should speak to the severity of the issue.I'd break down an engineering engagement into 2 parts:First would be an initial visit and rendering an opinion on the severity and possible approaches in design to remedy.2nd would be the actual design and cost opinion(s) to remedy.If you're pretty serious about the house, I think if you pay the $250-500 that I think you'd likely need to do the first, that would be a GREAT investment more than likely from what you're describing. 

It is likely a distribution.Self-directed IRA's are allowed to make make business loans to generate interest income.

I'm currently focused on 2-4 unit, buy & hold rentals in the Dayton, OH area, with the ultimate goal of building an income generating portfolio that allows me to say goodbye to my career in financial planning & analysis.BP is an incredible resource, and I look forward to connecting with other like-minded individuals! 

We see couple properties with FSBO (cash only so we are thinking of buying with cash and re-finance to pay back to the whatever the initial money resources) but not sure how to go from here...

Rental real estate often generates losses for tax purposes even when there is positive cash flow.

The more offers you send out, the more interested sellers will contact you, and the more deals you will close.This one method I discovered has generated me success over and over again.Happy to help further. 

It you book all your notes into one QB file, you have to generate reports that pull out a specific note.  

In addition, for us to purchase a place to call home (somewhere we actually want to exist) and leave empty while we travel, we are looking at having to spend at least $850k with no real upside or income generating potential.