Hi @Rolanda Eldridge,Thanks for the comments and advice.  

I am an auctioneer and flip properties and would be glad to refer you to others.CharlesInteresting comment.

I have a self-directed IRA that I would like to use to invest in a third party's flip. In thinking about a promissory note that would avoid both a prohibited transaction problem and an Unrelated Business Income Tax ("...

BTW, I went and looked at the MLS after posting my last comment and I found 5006 Cape Verde CV which is listed at 229,900 and has rents of $700 per side.

I am fairly new to investing which is why I was looking for suggestions/comments.

Turbo Tax or any crank out your tax program isn't considering future ramifications of your current tax elections, it won't address inventory accounting methods such as LIFO or FIFO (look it up) where economic conditions may be applicable to your operations, Section 179 isn't always the best approach.The only "issue" I see with the comment by @Ted Lanzaro is that his statement wasn't qualified fully, saying less than $150,000, that should have been mentioned with an income of being greater than say %45,000 because if you don't have any real income you sure aren't going to save thousands.

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To add to the comment left by @Lynda Duke about luck, it reminds me of a quote from an all-time favorite book "Would you call a fisherman lucky who for years so studied the habits of the fish that with each changing wind he could cast his nets about them?

I agree with the comments Adrian made. 

Any comment would be appreciated this is the question that's in my head every single day.