Paul Keep millionaire real estate investor by Gary Keller is eye opening.

Owning rentals in an IRA and titling them as your IRA, to me, could open your IRA up for liability. 

And I suppose since I am aiming towards opening an investment company rather than a real estate company, I should probably steer clear of the real estate license.

I opened a business account with them.

-For the value of the building, either check the tax records (some municipalities make it easy to access via an open website) for purchase prices, or use a website like zillow or realtor.com to see the sale prices of the surrounding buildings. 

Preferably on the gulf coast, but open to anywhere. 

Open to wholesaling this as well, but in the past I was able to get deals to my buyers at around 70-75 ARV. 

I am also open to the possibility of getting a real estate license. 

You can always leave the line of communications open with the Vendor.  

My property manager was always reluctant to do multi-family but now that I have 4 homes with her, she's more open to my prodding in that direction.