If so, then your self-directed IRA cannot be used in any way to participate in the purchase transaction as that would constitute self-dealing.If the IRA is purchasing the home purely as an IRA investment, then the loan must be non-recourse, meaning no personal guarantee from you. 

A private money or pure asset based hard money lender may be a better option since they aren't bound by the same regulatory environment as a bank.

I'm more inclined to come down on the side of keeping it, purely because it's a small fry debt that currently earns you 18.6% net, not including future appreciation.

A purely math based approach would tell you to leverage as much as possible. 

Are Lenders still giving out 4.68% 30 yr fixed, for pure investment properties?

We have watched several of our clients become full time, very well off investors purely from being consistently active in the market.

If we knew we could get her into one of the good charter schools (lottery system, so pure chance to get in I guess), we might just look at a simple SFH and stay there until we die or downsize later in life.

Inventory stays forever on the market in smaller markets and if you're going the HML route, the interest costs will eat into your profits in no time.Don't view a market as expensive or cheap purely based on the average price of a property.

I am hoping to find a purely cosmetic flip but am I not sure how much type to budget for one.

So far Ohio, Indiana and kentucky  seem like they may worth taking a closer look at ( a purely numeric observation).