Hello everyone, I live in Southeast, Pa and was thinking of getting into buy and holds.

Feel free to post there with any questions but we've been using that post for many years and it still holds up.Thanks!

but it sounds like you know a lot of what you DON'T want; what you do want is the opposite. if you're going to do your next project alone, it sounds like you want a LTR nearby that's relatively turnkey without any problem-tenants. you can do a 'lazy 1031' where you just sell traditionally & in the same calendar year buy the new property, while working with your cpa to figure out how to offset the tax bill. you could alternatively partner with an active investor on your next deal; that way you could invest in what could be a higher cashflow market compared to where you live, and not have to invest much time (since it sounds like you guys don't have as much time to spend on this now). 

@Farah Tatis would advise doing a few local flips as learning experiences, before trying an OOS flip.If you're looking for a buy & hold market, check out some of the great things happening in Detroit in 2024.https://michiganchronicle.com/2024/01/03/major-developments-that-will-define-detroit-in-2024/

- After I rehab, and rent it out; when I go to a bank to do a cash-out refi, there will be a mortgage on the property: can my SDIRA hold properties with mortgages?

If you guys cannot seem to make sense holding a property that produces little to no cash flow, try doing some flips! 

Looking forward to what the future holds.

and spend 20k in renovations, the property should be worth more and I can rent and hold it.

And has anyone done this to buy, hold for a little while and then sell for equity?

I'd spend this time making money the traditional way.