Real Estate investment abroad through Roth IRA

[Guest sku]

I was wondering it is possible to make real-estate investments (non-mortgage) in foreign countries (specifically I'm looking at India) through a Roth IRA account. If so, where can I find information about custodians who will allow this?

Being a newbie, I did some research on the existing topics on real-estate investments through Roth IRA, but did not find an answer to the question. In my case, I already sent some money for the real-estate investment. It is through an LLC registered in India and I have no mortgage. In the ideal case, I would like to open a Roth IRA and designate some of the money to have come from there. Can this be done? I'll truly appreciate it if you could suggest some sources where I can learn about this and other topics. Thanks!

[John G]

Real estate investing via a Roth presents lots of issue.....do a key word search on real estate on this message board to get more info. Many custodians just won't let you touch this. Some custodians put limits on the extent of international investing they allow. Reasons: part paternal attitude, part realistic marketing to less complicated handling, part concern about regulatory issues and compliance.

Also, you say you are a newbie....newbies should not be investing in more complicated investments before they thoroughly understand basic investing. Real estate, commodities, options.....you don't start learning how to invest there.

International investing has its own issues: unreliable information, currency exchange swings, government intervention (whoops, we have that here too!), civil strife, etc. It is easier to find info and make decisions on investments in the developed world. India is an emerging company and has lots of upside, but I sure hope you are not putting all your eggs into one basket.

Finally....if you insist. You can invest internationally and in real estate, by seeking any of the following:

ETFs - exchange traded funds - there are many that focus overseas and or have narrower economic focus such as by sector or industry. You get some diversification.

REITs - real estate investment stocks - these trade on the stock market and pass out dividends. They are more diverse than an individual investment.

Mutual Funds - you can find international exposure, but you would have to search to find anything that has substantial real estate exposure.