Bring your IRA Money to Michigan

Northwestern Financial — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 17:56:48 -0500

Ever heard of a self-directed IRA? No, I'm not talking about the IRA at your brokers office that allows you to pick your own funds your broker makes available to you. I'm talking about a real self-directed IRA where you can buy Mortgage Notes, investment properties and all of the other IRS allowed investments outside of stocks and bonds. How's your stock portfolio doing lately? The last time I spoke with a broker his response to the 10% loss in a family members portfolio, was "It could have been worse!" That must have replaced the old response, "Better than a poke in the eye!"

Let's face it, we all know the stock market is exciting, all those ups and downs, puts, calls and options. Heck, who doesn't like to show off by mentioning - I have a stock broker and I just lost 10% (nobody needs to know 10% of what...). If you just made 10% then you're just exaggerating, you probably don't even have a stock broker. Maybe you have money somewhere else and don't want everyone else to find out about your secret because they'll think you're crazy, you're part of some scam and you're going to loose it all and you're trying to take us with you. I think that's what some people think about self-directed IRA's. That, or the stock brokers don't want the general public to find out, they don't need the competition. Come on guys, let's just label all of those other investments as crazy, risky... and we don't know how they work so they must be...crazy and risky... (because we can't offer them)...crazy?!?

In a self-directed IRA you can buy Investment Mortgage Notes. These are individual mortgages on individual properties, with plenty of equity protection - typically no more than 50% loan-to-value. Where's the risk? The Notes are all 1st mortgages and the rate to the Note buyer is 14.9%, plus you are paid a 2% to 3% discount when you fund the Note. Where is the risk? The Note is serviced through a third party, in our case Northwestern Financial (www.nwfhl.com) for no extra cost to you and they handle everything. All of this is possible through your self-directed IRA but you have to find one. Here are a few Custodians:

Pensco Trust www.penscotrust.com

Guidant Financial Group www.guidantfinancial.com

Equity Trust Company www.trustetc.com

The Enrust Group www.theentrustgroup.com

Once you decide on your custodian you can rollover from your previous employer or IRA and start making money for your retirement, not your stock brokers. E-mail or call me for more information, Trent@nwfhl.com and (800) 292-7768.

Think Detroit!

Northwestern Financial — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 22:15:07 -0600

Looking for the deals for real estate investments, think Detroit. Where else can you purchase a property for less than a used car? If you know what you're buying, and have an agent looking in the right places you can buy for under $20,000, put about $10,000 into repairs and have a house worth $80,000 and more. How do I know? I see it every day in my business. I work for Northwestern Financial, a hard money rehab lender in Wixom Michigan, a suburb outside of Detroit. We lend to real estate investors from all over the country who are buying houses in Detroit taken back by lenders through foreclosure. The houses are typically brick bungalows with 3 bedrooms and 1 bath. Some of the houses have a garage, many have a fireplace, all have a basement, but they all need work. Because each house requires some sort of repair, whether its extensive or just updating old faulty plumbing and/or electric, the institutional lenders aren't interested in financing these properties, but we are. Because we are taking on the bulk of the risk (actually our mortgage investors risk), we have to make sure the house is in the right location and the repairs will be completed to properly sell the property or refinance for rental. Our process requires an extensive review of the securing property and borrower unlike most hard money lenders. We no longer lend based solely on equity, that's not good enough for the current market. If we can't get a borrower out of our loan we don't put them into our loan. When the institutional market changed it forced us to change. Sometimes change is good even it it seems to hurt. The change has been working well for us and our investors.

Trent's Blog

Bring your IRA Money to Michigan

Think Detroit!