He wants the paperwork to be drawn up in a way that would show only $100k from the sale going to him and the other $30k going to his sister to pay off the loan.

They essentially had to start over, if I remember correctly.In Ct, we rebuilt a small porch for a customer.

With he money from #2 and #3 above, plus the occasional small loan or gift from my parents I built this 1500 square foot home essentially by myself.

Bank sends all the paperwork to the title company, title company says that there is an issue with the title, specifically the property was not quit claim deeded from the LLC correctly.

Marina, what you really need to do here is hire a savvy lawyer to handle your paperwork and draw up a contract that will protect you.You also need to accept that you're going into this deal at the high risk end and need to ask yourself if this is the best place to start a deal, especially if it is your first?

We are getting ready to purchase our first investment property, a single family house to rent, using a self-directed Solo 401 K.At first I was leaning toward having checkbook control, but the cost for a custodian-managed account is reasonable, and I am thinking it might be good to have a custodian take some responsibility for paperwork and banking.What are the disadvantages of using a custodian, other than the slightly higher annual cost?

One essential element is that you need to figure out what is going on and make sure you get a non-refundable deposit if/so when they bail, or you have to evict them, you are covered.You still need to figure out why they aren't getting a mortgage and whether, given those circumstances, the lease option is still an acceptable risk for you.Finally, if you are fixing and flipping houses, the opportunity cost of having your money tied up in this house essentially for ever is very high.  

Essential/Not Essential? 

Essentially don't send me ... or many times i will say look out and high light for me a property that may scare others away and is priced accordingly or a property that seems to be priced a certain amount below market.

I appreciate your comments, but you can essentially build net worth through cash flow properties as long as you put the cash flow in the right investments.