Rental Property Investing with IRAs

An individual retirement account is familiar to most when it is referred to by its abbreviation IRA. What most people are not familiar with, however, are the strategies you can use to crank up your return on investment.

The idea of buying a home through an individual retirement account may seem out of sorts. It is not. Most people incorrectly assume they can only invest in mutual funds, stocks or bonds.

Investing in mutual funds, stocks and bonds is a way to make gains, but not huge ones unless you get lucky. The wealthy do not do so. Instead, they think outside of the box on the issue and investing in property through an IRA is a tremendous strategy.

Every time I read about a new wealth building strategy, I do so with a healthy bit of skepticism. If it sounds to good to be true, it often is. This strategy, however, does not push any limits or validate itself because of a loophole. It is basic IRA planning.

The simple fact is the law governing individual retirement accounts allows for a broad field of investments. You tend to only hear about mutual funds and stocks for one reason. That is what the investment firms are selling! They don’t make money on real estate investing.

To buy homes, commercial properties, rental properties and so on, you need to open a particular type of IRA. It can be a traditional or Roth version, but it must be self-directed and have a custodian. Most banks and trust companies offer them at a small cost.

As the name suggest, you are in control of the individual retirement account. This means you get to set the parameters of what can be invested in and what cannot so long as it is legal. Homes, condos and so on are legal investments under the tax code.

After setting up your account, you can invest in property. That being said, there are some minor limitations put forth in the tax regulations by the IRS. You cannot buy, for instance, your own home, which would be self dealing.

You cannot buy property from yourself or family members. That is it. Doing so would be considered self-dealing, which is a no-no in the tax world. The prohibition applies even if you buy the property at fair market value.

When the actual property is obtained, it will be signed off on by the IRA custodian. Self-directed IRAs have an independent custodian who oversees the account do to IRA rules. After that, you just collect earnings from the property tax free in your account.

To really maximize the strategy, many people will look to a different type of individual retirement account. You guessed it. The Roth. The strategy works the same, but the benefits are better. All distributions for the Roth are tax free, so you can set yourself up for retirement.

Using this strategy to purchase property is fairly straightforward. If you are looking to build wealth in your IRA, make sure to speak with a financial advisor familiar with this strategy.

By: Barry Waxller

Learn more about the real estate IRA strategy at UFCAmerica.com.
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