Investing into real estate with an IRA is something that most investors don’t even know is possible. It actually is very possible to invest into real estate in your retirement account, but it must be a self directed IRA for it to work.

A self directed IRA plan is a retirement plan that allows investors to invest their money however they would like to. Almost any kind of investment is available for self directed IRA holders to get into and one of those investments is of course real estate.

For everyone who does not know what exactly real estate investing is here is a simple definition. Real estate investing involves buying houses or apartment buildings and then renting them out. The idea here is that the rent money will pay for the mortgage and hopefully all of the bills. As the house appreciates you become wealthier and as you pay it off you start making passive income.

It is a terrific way of building your wealth because real estate is considered to be extremely safe. The one thing we will always need as a civilization is land. Without land we cannot build houses and we cannot live. So as the population of the world keeps going up the limited land is going to become more and more valuable.

So, how do you set up a self directed IRA and start investing into real estate today? Well the first thing to do is to find a list of banks and brokerages that will host it for you. Most places will host some sort of Self Directed IRA, but before you jump in without warning make sure that you do know what you are getting into.

While there shouldn’t be very many limits on what you can invest into with a Self Directed IRA some plans will actually put limits out their versions. Before you sign up with anything go over what thieir rules and fees are first.

It may be a pain in the butt, but it can also be worth it to pick the best possible account for your retirement.

For more on the rules to buy real estate in IRA read this Holding Real Estate in an IRA article.