Those who DCA - dollar cost average (and most do into their 401k mutual funds) won't get clobbered as they have been averaging in and over time this will smooth out all the volatility.Most people nearing retirement should be gradually shifting out of equities into something more of a fixed income flavor.Listen, I prefer RE over the stock market, however I have constructed over many years a fantastic stock portfolio of great companies that throws off income (dividends and distributions that grow annually) on a monthly, and quarterly basis that I will utilize to supplement my passive income in retirement...Days like yesterday (and today) are more like buy days, as if you look around you can find great value in these sell off days.

When the 1031 exchange was done or when it was distributed to qualify for the 121?

You can clearly spell out, in the articles, who owns what share of the company, how proceeds from sales/revenue are distributed, and it eliminates the potential for someone trying to "switch the percentages" down the road so to speak, because it is a formal legal structure. 

Don't take it to be a PM derivative -much of it is up to you ! 

The local authorities do have some autonomy in administering the program and you will find some differences in their processes and the ways they distribute their funds (IE - bedroom size calculations), but the property, landlord, and tenant standards should be consistent across the board. 

@Zachary LitwinSelf-directed IRA is still an IRA, all of the rules concerning contributions, distributions, taxation, etc. are the same.

It’s looking to me that a lot of the success in real estate comes from capital appreciation, which in my opinion is luck derived from speculation (maybe I’m wrong?

That's okay, but may not be the best choice for someone that is set on deriving their income and wealth through real estate.I hope this helps?

@Steve Sprowls The GP(s) in a deal should be providing you with  the distributions schedule.

In other investment realms such as corporate finance or stocks, people often use a probabilistic approach where each variable has a range of outcomes that vary along some distribution (i.e. normal/bell curve, triangular, etc).