A listener asks: Exactly how can you buy real estate in an IRA? Today, I answer that basic question… and the more important question behind it: SHOULD YOU buy real estate in your IRA? I’m Bryan Ellis. This is Episode #192.-----Hello, SDI Nation! Welcome to the podcast of record for savvy self-directed investors like you!Today, it’s back to basics day. But the “basic” idea we’re covering is one that many of you have done very, very wrong… and you don’t even know it.Before I get into the meat of today’s show, may I ask a personal favor of you? Please say a prayer for my daughter Kayla. She’s 18, and tomorrow she’ll be having surgery that we’re hoping and praying will correct some rather severe skeletal and maybe neurological issues she’s having which are causing her really, really great pain. She’s connected to this show by more than just being my daughter… she is the person who edits and publishes this show so that you get to hear it. So please, please say a prayer for her. Kayla, I love you so much and I’m praying for you. And, of course, I’ll be there with you at the hospital constantly. God is with you, kiddo, so take heart and be full of courage!I received a great question from a listener named Molly who had this excellent question for me: “Bryan, I really love your show, but I’m confused. I want to buy a house in my IRA. When I asked my IRA account people at Charles Schwab how to do this, they told me I couldn’t do it. What am I missing?”Thanks for the question, Molly. And by the way – I welcome your questions at feedback@sdi360.com. Molly, here’s the answer:By law, there are very few restrictions on what kinds of assets can be purchased with an IRA, and there’s certainly no problem LEGALLY with buying real estate in your retirement account.But different IRA Custodians – those are the companies that set up IRA’s, such as Charles Schwab in your case – different IRA Custodians allow different levels of flexibility in terms of the assets for which they will facilitate purchases.In the case of Charles Schwab, they’re brokerage for stocks, bonds & mutual funds. In other words – the conventional Wall Street type of assets. And you know, I used to have an account with them. I always liked the service they provided and thought they were a good company.But I had to move on from them once I realized it was possible to do MORE with my retirement account, and that’s what you’re going to need to do too, Molly.Your next step is to transfer your retirement account from Charles Schwab to what’s called a Self-Directed IRA custodian. Now I realize that at Charles Schwab particularly, they do use the term “self-directed” to describe their IRA accounts. And to an extent, that’s true. But the truth is, accounts there are only self-directed to the extent that you choose to invest in an asset that they’re willing to sell to you, which unfortunately is limited to stocks, bonds, mutual funds and conventional Wall Street type investments. If you’d like to go outside of Wall Street investments, then you need a TRULY self-directed retirement account.And never fear! I have a handy list of self-directed IRA custodians available to you at sdi360.com/custodians. There are a few dozen of them listed there from which you can choose.So Molly, you’ll select a self-directed IRA custodian, transfer your account to that custodian, and then you’re ready to buy real estate in your IRA.So what’s the process from there?Well, the most important thing to remember is that it’s your IRA that’s buying the real estate, not you. Technically, it’s your IRA Custodian who is buying it for the benefit of your account.So here’s how it works. What you do is negotiate the purchase contract just like normal… except that the BUYER will be your IRA custodian for the benefit of your account number. Confirm with your Custodian, but usually the buyer is listed as something like “XYZ Custodian for benefit of Joe Blow IRA, Account #123456”… or some variation of that. Just confirm with y