I am looking to sell my existing primary residence and purchase a live in multi-family property to start getting into real estate. Our first home purchase was completely emotional & we are ready to get rid of the ball & chain that is keeping us from diving into the real estate world. We owe roughly 280k and have been advised by our realtor that we could list somewhere between 420-449k. We also have two .25 acre lots nearby that we purchased at auction at the height of the pandemic back in 2020 for a rough total of 18k for both out the door. We are now listing them individually at about 20k-25k each. On top of all of that, I’ve also jumped into stock market investing right around COVID & now have access to about $60k in the market. 

All of that being said, we are trying to find the best way to do all of these transactions. I am self employed and on paper, I don't make much. My S/O is a department manager at a local credit union. They are a large CU so they only offer Fannie Mae conventional financing, otherwise we would go that route. I have a few ideas but I feel like I know just enough to be able to get myself in trouble. I've been listening to the podcasts for quite sometime & have heard various things like utilizing a 1031 and self directed IRA's but I am not quite sure how/what to do with all of those things for our exact situation. We are leaning toward some sort of private lending/creative financing but am unsure where to start. I've reached out to my CPA but in all honesty he is very much of a meet in person, make an appointment kind of person which just doesn't work with my work schedule. We looked at a duplex that is currently on the market today; they're asking about $250k for it & it needs some love, which I'm not scared of. They do already have two offers on the table so I am not getting my hopes up for that. I would like to get the ball rolling on finding the right financing, as down payment really isn't an issue & we don't intend to hold a note for very long with the sale of our current residence. I was curious if it would be beneficial to 1031 the sale of the lots into a down payment on a multi-family residence, and what the best way to pull the funds out of the stock market would be specifically in relation to a real estate transaction. If anyone has any advice or guidance they can provide, I'd be forever grateful.