Feel free to message me or respond here.If there is enough interest we can organize some social event Friday and Saturday evening after the conference.Happy to chat to anyone going about how we have used our self-directed IRA, flipping, foreclosures, or about the Memphis market in general.Not selling anything just going to learn and network. 

The trust is held by my Roth IRA.   

The type of self-directed IRA that will best suit your situation and goals will drive the process of identifying the right firm to work with.A self-directed IRA custodian is a processing entity.

I am considering rolling the fund over to an IRA that allows for real estate investment, do you know if I can leverage funds in IRA? 

A lot of forum members are very knowledgeable in their respective fields related to real estate investing, whether that is real estate sales, wholesaling, flipping, rentals, lending, self-directed IRA and Solo 401k investing, or tax and legal guidance.Discounts on some products and services are offered to BP members: https://www.biggerpockets.com/perks/proThe site has quite a few tools that can be helpful for new members.

If you're a scaling operation, I can help you set up a SEP IRA, Solo 401K, and retirement systems for your employees.

Any idea if you can use the self directed IRA as a percent equity in an investment and then have a different LLC get a loan to finance the property? 

It's better just to put it in a stock mutual fund Roth Ira and call it a day. 

Would the answer be the same whether the IRA or the IRA's LLC was the purchaser? 

Yes, long term money (IRA) money is great for participating in syndication deals as a limited partner because of self interest rules in not being active w/your own IRA money.