Over the last couple of months, several customers have asked about alternate ways to finance land they are considering purchasing for investment. This isn’t surprising considering that McKeough Land Company is offering some significant discounts for multiple-lot purchases. Based on these conversations, we researched alternate ways for people to take advantage of this buyer’s market.

One interesting and little-known opportunity is the ability to purchase land through a self-directed IRA. “Golden Opportunities in Real Estate for Savvy Investors” explains the process for using a self-directed IRA to buy any type of real estate.

There are several reasons to consider buying land using funds from your IRA, but the most prominent one is that any profit that is generated from the investment is tax-deferred, just like the earnings from your regular IRA or 401K. Once you have decided that you would like to make an investment in land, the process of buying through your IRA is pretty simple:

1. Create a self-directed IRA account (several companies offer this type of product)
2. Liquidate funds from your current IRA or 401K and place the funds in your new self-directed IRA
3. Purchase the land through your self-directed IRA

There are restrictions and accounting considerations, and the details are included in the article linked above.

To make the process of land investment using your IRA easier, McKeough Land Company’s Northern Michigan office has created a strategic alliance with Retirement Investment Alternatives, LLC, a Suttons Bay-based company that specializes in helping clients set up and purchase property through self-directed IRAs. If you would like more information on our strategic alliance and how to purchase land using your IRA, please email Thompson Godfrey or call (800) 290-LAND.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 18th, 2008 at 12:45 pm and is filed under Michigan, News, Northern Michigan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.