Real Estate In Your IRA???

Can an IRA fund your home business as part of your retirement planning?

From Bill Mencarow’s PaperSourceOnline.com ezine

by John J. Merchant, J.D.

If you are offered the choice of getting a lifetime payout of your pension plan funds (annuitization) at a fixed rate, which assumes a safe and sluggish rate of return by the pension plan administrator, or taking all your pension plan funds in taxable cash, or rolling over the whole thing into your IRA without losing a chunk of it to Uncle Sam’s tax folks, you’re probably going to take the IRA option. At least you probably will if you have some reasonable idea that you could invest it at least as well as some uncaring, super-cautious money manager who probably thinks anything as wild as real estate investing really belongs in Caesar’s Palace as a game of chance. (There is some humor in the fact that while that money manager is firmly stuck in his or her
suspicion of real estate as an investment, they may be sitting on a huge profit in their own home!)

Assuming you (and if you are reading this, you may fit) know more about and like the idea of a real estate investment more than you like the idea of stocks, mutual funds, CDs, annuities, etc., etc., then you’ll probably be more attracted to the idea of buying, managing and holding a good piece of ground, improved or otherwise, than to the other possible investments.

And, if you, like a great many other folks, have made more money in real estate than in everything else combined, then why would you not use this large source of money for more good real estate? Or at least a portion of it?

One reason to put real estate in an IRA is that some terrific bargains can certainly be had in the world of real estate for big chunks of cash! Who among us cannot think of at least one or two terrific bargains we could have picked up for an all-cash purchase?

And when in your life are you more likely to have such a sizable chunk of green money to spend?

A very important element in using real estate is that the personal knowledge and experience of the investor can be fully utilized. Unlike the stock market, where only a relative few are really well-equipped with enough specialized knowledge and savvy to do wise and strategic buying and selling on a consistent daily
basis, lots of us know something about real estate — particularly in our own towns, neighborhoods and communities. In fact, the chances are good that if you’ve lived in your area a number of years, you may know as much as any self-appointed expert about what’s happening there, and you’ll know when a bargain property
comes up for sale.

While most of us can only guess and marvel and wonder about what makes the Dow Jones or NASDAQ indexes tick, it doesn’t take much study to learn that there are — always! — some houses and land and
other real estate that can be bought now for a lot less than their true value.

John J. Merchant, J.D., EMS, is a graduate of SMU School of Law. He practiced law for a number of years before leaving law practice to devote his time to a variety of business interests and investments.

He has been very involved in investment real estate since before graduating from high school, and he has owned and managed a plethora of properties in several states, including ranches, oil leases, gas stations, rentals, both single family and multiplexes, office buildings, warehouses and even fast food restaurants.

John is owner and broker of MesaRoya Properties, in Tacoma, Washington, a commercial real estate brokerage. He is a Gold Card member of National Council of Exchangors, (EMS - Equity Management
Specialist) and a member of various other real estate exchange and marketing groups.

He has been actively engaged in assisting clients with their IRA and other pension plan investments for many years and has written and spoken on the topic to a number of professional groups. He is the
author of “How To Use Your IRA, TSA Or Pension Plan To Buy Real Estate, Notes, Judgments And Other Things.” E-mail: mailto:jmer1627@aol.com

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

“Tax-Free Note & Real Estate Investing: Maximizing Your Financial
Potential Using IRAs” by Steve Case.
http://www.papersourceonline.com/tfreinfo.htm

“Amassing Tax-Free Wealth Using Self-Directed IRAs,” a seminar by Peter Fortunato and Dyches Boddiford. They will both show you deals they have done and how they were structured. Techniques will be shown to increase your IRA growth many times over! April 22 & 23, Atlanta.
http://www.assets101.com/Events/Upcoming-Seminars/Roth-IRA-Wealthbuilding-3.html
or call 678-935-4439.

Visit these great websites –

The Paper Source — Guiding Note
Investors and Brokers Since 1987:
http://www.PaperSourceOnline.com