I am a BIG believer in encouraging alternatives to college, like learning to work in the trades, firefighting, auto mechanics, etc. 

Best response mechanism: - Direct calls to my cell phone - 1-800 # with recorded message to capture information

You are not going to have to replace all 20 furnaces at once so you don’t need to have all that money saved.If you want to be precise, maintain a spreadsheet with all the mechanicals, appliances and big items in the properties, with the associated costs and lifetime expectancy.

The mechanism is that you would do an exchange on the sale of the property taking a certain amount of cash "boot" from the exchange. 

The way you phrased your original question threw a few responses off course.You can roll that old 401k to a self-directed IRA or (if you qualify) Solo 401k.The new plan can purchase real estate, and use a mortgage to do so.As I noted above, the mortgage would need to be non-recourse.In an IRA, there is a small tax that applies to the percentage of income generated to the IRA through the use of non-IRA (borrowed) funds called UDFI.The bottom line is that there is a mechanism whereby you can diversify your tax-sheltered retirement savings into leveraged real estate.  

I have stated 3% going to the buyers agent of course, but for some reason I feel like this kind of listings are slower (all though the mechanism is the same and the exposure is the same as if I had a sellers agent).

It is not a typical wheel-type mechanism, but just a slider that keeps the door in place below.

Not to mention inspectors usually won't go into details on mechanicals, structural, etc, they will refer you to specialists (which would cost even more money).It is hard to give advice on who to bring with you for potential deals you don't own.

Anyone ever have to post a bond to cover a mechanics lien.

He has now file a mechanics lien on the property for an additional $20k+.