What formulas work best for you to determine what is a good deal, what tweaks have yo made?

I know agents have relationships with buyers where they simply tell them every "good deal"?

The income I earn from originating loans is what I would like to use to invest in real estate whether it be for down payment/closing costs/rehab or simply to buy cash not sure yet. 

Last but not least, how will you determine seeing a "dip?" 

Stan,FHA financing is simply not possible with self-directed IRA.

I am hoping for a source for vetting or otherwise determining if a private lender is legitimate.Thanks for being available for this big stepRichard Murray

I don't see why your agent wouldn't simply answer those questions for you.

I went out of state, simply put I tried to make it work here (1031) but could not for the life of me get an offer accepted at a price point that'd work for me.

I already have a HELOC on it and I am trying to raise my HELOC balance but the issue that I am running into is that the larger institutional banks are not willing to use the rental incomes from my 3 units toward my income in determining my debt to income ratio because the building is my primary residence. 

My two partners simply brought the deal to me.