The term “self-directed” simply means that you, as an individual, have complete control over selecting and directing your own IRA or 401(k) investments. Once established, your account can buy real estate, notes, limited partnerships , commercial paper and many other types of assets. With a self directed IRA, you make all of the decisions regarding your investments. The self directed IRA custodian or administrator completes the documents required to establish your account and purchases your investment.
When you open a self-directed IRA, the custodian will do nothing but wait for instruction from you on what to do with your money in that IRA. That money you can invest in anything except for typically jewelry and art. With self-directed IRA one can potentially build wealth and secure their future much more effectively than through traditional retirement plans.
One of the very first deals that I had when I sold a property is when my buyer realized he was getting such a great deal, he then decided to put his property into his IRA. He had already apparently a quite substantial one, too. We bought the property at $70,000 with an option & sold it at $100,000 in a double escrow.
When you write the sale agreement that is signed by the seller. It is imperative to have the custodian of your IRA sign the sale agreement. You cannot sign that sale agreement, because otherwise you would be working for your self-directed IRA.
The self-directed IRA is not run by you. Hence it is owned by you, but you do not run it. The person that officially signs for it is called the custodian. And the custodian locks it up on a sale agreement. Have the agreement signed by the seller and by the custodian as the constituency off of your IRA account. Therefore your signature does not appear in it at all.
The only disadvantage of IRAs is that you can't touch it until you are retired. Make sure before deciding to go this route, make sure you know the implications of a self-directed IRA and that when using this for your Tax Delinquent Investment that you don't expect to turn a profit right away. This is more like a long term investment strategy. Cash might not be fast but it sure does offer some security for future. Check with a licensed CPA in your state to find out all of the rules and regulation surrounding this great retirement strategy.