It's Feb 2012, what did you accomplish in the first month

[Thomas Handy]

I thought I would touch on a different topic as a way to see how everyone has started off the year. One month is down and did you start off the year with a bang?

I was gearing up for a great 2012 until Fannie Mae wouldn't approve my mortgage without a central heating system. I had been working with the seller on the price and was able to get $5000 of the asking price, had the house appraised, talked to the property manager on how to improve the property, talked to Lowe's about screen doors, and made numerous trips to the house.

Just as I was about to close, the bank took forever to return my calls and finally said the house was unlivable since it lacked a heating source. Wish they would have told me that from the start. The seller wouldn't budge and provide any funding for central heat nor entertain the idea of splitting the central heat installation. So I told my agent I'll pass on this property and continue to look for the next deal. The property already had a page full of renovations I was planning to make. Adding a central heating system really threw my numbers off. During this time though, I have made various offers and met a good number of people selling homes as an agent or investor. I'm sure the right property has my name on it and just waiting till the right house goes on the market.

I did learn a lot the past two months, more than any book could have taught me. The market's changing and it's unforgiving. The key is to have a plan B and not fall in love with the property you're looking at. But I'm loving how 2012 is starting off.

Tom

[J Scott]

Originally posted by Jon Klaus:

J Scott have you posted about this? I'd love to hear the story...

I'm happy to tell the whole story once I receive the official letter from the IRS (a couple weeks), but long story short, I moved a large chunk of my retirement funds into a self-directed product offered by a relatively large financial company.

Shortly after doing so, my ERISA attorney made me aware of some investigations that the IRS and DOL were initiating into these types of products, and there was concern about whether they were legal or not. I immediately stopped investing the retirement funds and basically asked the IRS to "audit" exactly what I was doing to determine if it was legal; basically, if you initiate the audit and it turns out you did something wrong, the IRS will tend to be a lot more lenient than if they initiated the audit at a later date.

It's taken about a year, but I just got word that I should receive a final determination in a couple weeks, and it should be favorable (fingers crossed), meaning any future ruling the IRS or DOL makes on these types of retirement products in the future can't come back to hurt me.

Fun fact: If you flagrantly violate ERISA laws with how you use your retirement funds, the penalty from the IRS/DOL can be loss of your entire retirement portfolio PLUS 10% or more excise penalty that you'd have to pay out of pocket. Be careful out there!