She did advise me a screen is missing that I wasn't aware of.  

What the rules tell us is that you may not personally benefit from the IRA (i.e. paying yourself to manage) or provide benefit to the IRA via the provision of goods or services (i.e. swinging hammers).The general interpretation in the industry is that you may administer the investments of the IRA, so activities like screening tenants, signing a lease, collecting the rents, hiring vendors to do repairs, etc. is acceptable.  

RE is not a easy gig  but once you crack the code its something you can do for a lifetime.

(2) Let's say our first crack at this REI works really well and we want to continue growing our portfolio, (which is our intention) will it be more difficult during these turbulent financial times for a newbie to build a strong and steady portfolio in comparison to past economical downturns?

My name is Jay Taylor, and I'm very much a newbie to RE investing but have been investing on my own in stocks for 11 years and working as a freelance investment writer for 7 years (previously full time, now as a side-hustle for one client).My RE journey began when my brother-in-law sent me a link to a property listing in Boulder, suggesting that we try to find something for him to buy that I can manage (screen/rent/landlord/deal with things that go bump in the night).

Research the logistics behind finding and screening a tenant, proper ways of collecting rent and building out a network of vendors for maintenance.

Owners mistakenly ASSUME all PMCs offer the exact SAME SERVICES and PERFORM those services EXACTLY THE SAME WAY, so price is the only differentiator.So, the first question they usually ask a PMC is about fees - instead of asking about services and HOW those services are executed.EXAMPLE: PMC states they will handle tenant screening – what does that specifically mean?

We are trying to look at numbers, I understand that cap rate is not all it is cracked up to be, but what are properties like this trading for on average right now?

Pat, so others can learn from your example, what did you do in the way of screening this tenant?

There's ample evidence of where the drywall had cracked and/or started pulling apart at the seams due to the foundation movement.