Although private lending is a great way to invest I will offer an alternative idea to you and all other readers on this thread.

This weakness is not good long term and people will mostly come to Newark if their jobs are there (as Harrison and other places are much better alternatives).

quality company.... and for someone living in AU.. this is a great alternative to owning assets wholly.

If I'm wrong then yes a 1031 will work.There are other alternatives to make it work but would involve some legal expertise and additional costs which might not make it profitable.

This is not typically a wise strategy for investing that money in real estate, as there are many risk factors and if you do not return the money to an IRA, you get hit with taxes and penalties.The alternative would be to rollover the SEP IRA to a self-directed IRA or Solo 401k.  

An alternative is an asset based lender.

Even if you can't attend the regular meetings they often have alternatives like an active list serve or informal lunches where you can meet agents or ask for recommendations from other investors.

I have a feeling prices are inflated at the moment (summer) and was wondering if there is a general strategy in the Houston market to avoid some of the inflations we experience in home prices throughout the year (for ex: parents wanting homes in school districts near the start of the school semesters).

Hardmoney solves financial solutions and is a great source for alternative financing.

Alternatively, I have purchased 1000sf properties and put less than $5k into them.