In one case a budy of mine picked up several houses at once and ended up making regular payments to the sellers estate...it was a terrific deal all around.You can probably find an agent or two that will at least complete the periodic search of the MLS for you and let you compare whats out there...of course by then there are agents involved (commissions to be paid), and every investor and regular buyer in town can see the offer....so like you already mentioned some of the opportunity has eroded.

Is he is looking to just supply capital and see a guaranteed % return after a certain time period?  

Are you paying all cash with your bank account money, hml for flips, or some down for a regular buy and hold loan??

So if something goes horribly wrong (litigation) are both (or all) my regular IRA and my self- directed IRA liable?

Could you elaborate on "plenty of liability insurance" and how this differentiates between regular insurance?

Yes, totally agree with @William Larsen , the bidding contests have certainly slowed down and deals are starting to pop up far more regularly.

We supply all keys to tenants for our lock sets and will make duplicates for our tenants when needed.

Coupons are important as they give you the offset 25% but the main 75% of business comes from regulars.

There is one commercial store unit that is vacant and could supply an additional $9,600/yr gross income.

The city is full of multi's that are in need of new ownership and great deals do pop up pretty regularly.