Putting $200K into a flip that returns you $10K would require you do to 4 deals a year to get 20% return. 4 deals and thin margins carry lots of risk.

We don't want to carry the financing and we don't want to have renters but I am ready to have just one mortgage again. 

I would also talk to your agent about a liability rider to Co er any accidents that may occur with the workers, just in case a GC or contractor isn't carrying the required insurance.

I believe you can do a SDIRA but I had heard that you don't get to write off the interest on loans you may be carrying on your rentals...that could be some bad info that was given to me.I ended up paying the state and federal taxes and my thought was to get some cash flow properties into my portfolio rather than having my money exposed to the stock market (just my thoughts though).An example of one of my rentals is positive cash flow per month of $500.

While I know it can carry by area, I agree that insurance rate is way high. 

Your idea in general is not a new one and it carries some other concerns of old operators doing seller financing.

All of these can be discussed on the magic apple walkie talkies we carry in our pockets. ;)

The owner would be carrying a portion of the contract price rather than the whole thing.

It is very easy to be carried away by emotion and stop thinking.  

With a ARV of just $120k it's not worth the risk as a flip as commissions and carry costs would eat up your profit.It's a no brainer between the two..