In addition to ensuring they are not trashing the place or violating lease terms like allowing a day care or breaking pet policy, these homes are an investment, and tenants and property managers do not look at your investment with the same interest that you would.  

stick with property #1 less work involved and with your attorney review the legal docs, that'll give you time to ensure you're creating improvements as oppose to add ons that could be a challenge. 

If you want to retain for cash flow, that doesn't really matter....I'd focus on CoC return while also ensuring I don't overpay vs. comps.

The tax itself does not generally add up to much, and you will still very much receive the benefits of higher cash-on-cash return for your IRA, but this is a concept you will want to ensure you understand before you go into a financed deal.

And the intent is not to splash $1million in the first month of the fiscal year on acquisitions but rather to distribute the acquisition, rehab and resale of the 10 properties incrementally through out the year.The number of deals per year might start increasing eventually but will require strong management to ensure it does get chaotic.

I don't know if organization skills are genetic.

Why not ensure you get properties that someone would buy?

I like the idea of going to a newer growing market, but what do you do to ensure there isn't too much growth, development, etc?

They are usually the ones that will actually be executing these documents, with the attorney's help in ensuring the legal rights that are/aren't being granted.

The most cost-effective approach to managing an IRA-owned rental property is to handle it yourself, but you must be careful to ensure you follow the rules.