First they do have a lease, verbal holds up in court, and M2M is the best lease you could have.Your options are to either have the seller provide vacant occupancy or you wait and give them notice of non renewal as soon as you become the owner.

There are many advantages to holding real estate in your IRA.

I think long term we are way less volatile than some California markets (as seen in the last downturn) so there is some sense of security holding through whatever is to come - in my opinion.     

I wrote an article on financing methods for buy and hold a while back that you might find helpful: https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2014/10/29/the-ultimate-list-of-ways-to-finance-buy-and-hold-property/

Now I am thinking maybe we should hold off on building and buy a few homes to flip with that money instead.

Jose Rueda I'm so confused..Why did you include an ARV on your calculations for a buy & hold?

I hold position of safety on fire ground, and although we are talking two extremely different things, I have Learned to appreciate "Risk vs Benefits "In this partnership we balance each other , in all aspects.

Also if your looking for a Realtor to help you find your next buy and hold, I would love to help! 

The issue I have is that I have some credit card debt thats holding me back making it very hard to save for capital for a down payment.

suggestion: buy it for $1 take out a loan for 40k pay off you sister have your mother hold a second for the remainder and become a first after the 40 is paid off.suggestion: take equity out on 1 of your other properties for the 40k and have your mother reassign the 300k loan to you!