You've asked me to keep you updated on the latest news related to IRA investments in real estate. Here are a few quick updates I thought you'd be interested in.

Agents taking the lead in IRA investments – The “IRA Wealth” concept is really catching on for real estate agents, who are not only using the process to build their own retirement accounts but also helping their clients do the same. “As a Realtor you can add thousands of dollars each and every month to your current income by simply fulfilling the needs of savvy real estate investors who want to place real estate into their IRA plans,” wrote Colorado Realtor and real estate investor Thomas Phelan in an e-mail I received today. Granted, Phelan is promoting his new book, “Rich Realtor: Poor Realtor,” but it was interesting to note that all of the statistics used in his e-mail were ones collected for and made public in “IRA Wealth.” Today I also met a John L. Scott agent in Southeast Portland using his IRA to invest in real estate for the first time (a commercial property with steady rental income). “I figure that once I go through the process,” he said, “it will be a lot easier for me to explain the process to my clients.” The steps, he’s discovering, are fairly self-explanatory. But even with all of the press this concept has received (including Forbes’ coverage two weeks ago), he’s still educating his CPA: “He continues to tell me that it can’t be done; I’ll just have to give him a copy of your book.” Agents who’ve used an IRA for financing recommend allowing several weeks, when first setting up the account, for the money to go from the old brokerage or investment firm to the new self-directed administrator.

Direct real estate investment more attractive as REIT options for pension funds shrink – Real Estate Investment Trusts, or REITS, are often the first vehicle people think of when I refer to real estate investments within pension funds. As you now know, there are many other options besides these middle-man accounts. These days many public Real Estate Investment Trusts are going private or merging, reports Pensions & Investments’ Oct. 18 edition. “It’s partly the function of the pain of being a public company and partly the reduced coverage by Wall Street,” said Dale Anne Reiss, Ernst & Young’s global director of real estate, in the P&I report. (This makes sense, given the growing coverage that IRA alternatives such as those in “IRA Wealth” have received.) As the options – and REIT returns – shrink, clients already familiar with pension fund investments in real estate are more apt to be actively looking for solutions.

Commercial properties forecasted to provide better returns for IRA clients – If you’re planning to service IRA clients, you may want to add commercial properties to your repertoire. During the first eight months of 2004, investment in office buildings was up 66 percent and investment in multi-family properties were up 40 percent, reports the National Association of Realtors’ Commercial Real Estate Quarterly (released Sept. 14). "This optimism by investors says more about the future of the commercial real estate sector than anything else," said David Lereah, the National Association of Realtors' chief economist, in Realtor magazine’s coverage. "The investment level shows they understand the value of portfolio diversification and the fundamental demand for commercial real estate that occur in a growing economy." More than $99 billion in commercial sales took place in 57 tracked metropolitan areas during the first eight months of 2004, up from $54.6 billion during the same period in 2003. More than 45 percent of overall commercial spending this year has been on acquisition of investment-grade office buildings. That’s all according to Realtor, which also reports that office and industrial markets on the East and West Coasts are fairing the best, with “low vacancy and high demand.”