I consider the type of care that needs to be taken to avoid fraudulent investments in a self-directed retirement account to be on par with the level of care needed to avoid fraudulent investments with non-retirement money.As for self-dealing, you are correct that these accounts are for your benefit later on (presumably in retirement).

Your main role is to ensure that the level of stuff is not causing maintenance issues and that you can get access when you need it. 

Check out the book, the Flipping Blueprint it can give you some guidance on flipping estimates, it depends on the level of rehab there are some rough numbers once can use as a price per sqft.

Rather, they are readily observed by the seller and therefore it stands a chance of connecting on a deeper level with them than simply flinging lower prices around.:) 

I have one house that we did about 3 years ago that glue-down was the only reasonable flooring to use because the house was old and the floors would have been too much work to bring them all as level as they need to be for floating.

So FI level needs to be asked specifically. 

Lenders like income streams that have two years of history; if you're a W2 employee, you need two years of employment in the same field, and if you're self-employed, you need a business that demonstrates the same level of income for two years.If you buy some property for cashflow, a lender probably won't count the income until you've owned the property for two years.

An apartment can have downtown-level condo finishes but will stay stagnant and vacant if the bedrooms are 7x7 depending on what your tenants are looking for.I personally don't reply to zillow/trulia/hotpads direct messages/emails from the system.

I wouldn't want to be stuck with a property with non-performing tenants without some level of confidence that they'll vacate the property/have the process of vacating the property started.

Perhaps it depends more on the experience level of the buyer, but I'd be glad to take that 3% discount for representing myself.