The UDFI question is deciding SDIRA versus Solo 401(k) for me

Your third question is the one I'd answer first. Building a structure that depends on income you describe as not guaranteed feels backwards for something you plan to hold twenty years.

Genuine question because I'm planning my own first purchase. Is the UDFI amount on 60% debt financing actually large after depreciation and interest, or is everyone reacting to the rate table rather than the dollar figure? keystone, have you run the number?

quill that's the right question. keystone you gave us the structure but no income statement. What's the rent roll and the expense load?

On lender friction: the two that wanted plan documents aren't being difficult, they're being normal. Every non-recourse lender I've dealt with underwrites the borrowing entity as well as the property, and a self-trusteed plan is more document review than a custodian they've closed with before. Budget an extra two to three weeks and confirm their requirements in writing before you go under contract, because the timeline is what kills these.

How does the loan even work if there's no personal guarantee? What's the lender's recourse, just the property?

bramble yes, the property and whatever reserves the loan requires. That's why the down payment is 35 to 40% instead of 20 to 25%. The lender is pricing the fact that they can't come after keystone personally.

keystone, the thing I'd want in writing before rolling anywhere is what happens to your Solo 401(k) if the consulting stops. A Solo 401(k) generally requires self-employment activity to be eligible, and plans have rules about what happens when there's no longer an eligible participant. That's a question for whoever drafts your plan documents, and the answer belongs in the document, not in a forum. If the answer involves unwinding or transferring a leveraged fourplex under time pressure, that's a real risk on a 20 year hold.

On the friction point, I've read a lot of non-recourse packages and the underwriting on the entity side varies more than the property side. Ask each lender specifically whether they've closed with a self-trusteed plan before and how recently.

canton's eligibility point is the whole thread as far as I can tell. Everything else is solvable with time and a CPA.

Read the plan document before you fund anything. Not the marketing summary, the actual document. I've seen prototype plans that are silent on things people assume are covered, and the trustee provisions are where you find out how much personal exposure you've signed up for. If the provider won't send you the document to read before you pay, that tells you something.

Separately, keystone, you say you don't want to roll twice. You can roll a portion. Nothing forces the whole $310k into one account on day one, and splitting it is a way to buy yourself time on a decision you clearly haven't finished making.

Nobody's mentioned the reserve requirement inside the account. $208k down out of $310k leaves you about $100k, which sounds fine until you remember a fourplex has four turnovers, four water heaters, and one roof, and every dollar of that has to come from account cash. On my renovation side a fourplex roof in most markets is not a small number and the scope always grows once someone's up there. I'd want to know your reserve floor before I cared about which wrapper you chose.