You’ve heard of the IRA. You know that you should be investing in them. You know that you should be planning for your retirement. But then there are more words thrown at you. “Gold IRAs.” “Real Estate IRAs.” “Self-Directed IRAs.” You thought you had a good handle on the situation, and suddenly you’re learning that there are all sorts of options within this scope of the IRA itself.

What’s an investor to do? Well, if you’re intrigued by this phrase “Real Estate IRA,” then you’ve come to the right place. A Real Estate IRA is indeed a fantastic way to build wealth over the long term to secure a nest egg for retirement. But if you don’t know much about it beyond that, you’ll be able to read some of the basic “what you didn’t know about Real Estate IRA” points right here. What’s more, we’ll point you to some further resources and give you some key contact information so you can get even more deeply involved in learning about these intriguing retirement accounts.

Advantages in Real Estate IRAs

If you know a little bit about IRAs, you know that they’re retirement accounts that come with some advantages for the same long-term investing for which they’re designed. IRAs allow you to invest over the long haul and take the money out when you hit retirement age. But let’s talk about the advantages that Real Estate IRAs can specifically offer you over other types of investment accounts:

• Income generation. Simply put, there are few ways to stimulate income generation better than real estate. And since income generation is the goal of your IRA – to provide you with an income in your sunset years – real estate is often seen as an ideal sort of investment for your retirement purposes.
• Growth potential. This isn’t like investing in bonds – with real estate, you know that there are more opportunities for growth. There is risk, as well. But if you take a long-term approach, you’ll be able to tolerate risk while building long-term wealth.
• Rather than investing in a mutual fund designed to mimic the stock market, you can find all sorts of options when you invest in real estate, including investing in raw land, single-family homes, condominiums, town houses, apartment buildings, commercial property, and more. There are plenty of ways to use your strengths when it comes to building wealth in a Real Estate IRA.

Limits and Regulations for Real Estate IRAs

Of course, it’s not all benefits – there are also some things to be aware of when you invest in a Real Estate IRA:

• No personal use. Owning assets in an IRA for personal use is a no-no, which means you can’t buy a condominium through your IRA and then live in it. You have to keep them distinctly separate from your personal life.
• Income must remain within the IRA until you make a distribution. For example, if you take money out of your Real Estate IRA, the IRS may consider that a “taxable distribution,” which means it could be susceptible to high fees depending on your age and the type of the account you’re using.

If you want to learn more about Real Estate IRAs, continue browsing AmericanIRA.com. We can also point you to our section on Real Estate IRAs…and we’d love to hear from you, as well. Be sure to call us at 1-866-7500-IRA(472) to get in touch with us and learn all there is to know about investing in real estate through an IRA and building a nest egg for retirement.