Using Employee 401k Plan to Fund Real Estate Investments

[Kyle Bambu]

Hi everyone! I'm starting a job at a company that will match my contributions made to a 401k or Roth 401k. I'm trying to figure out the best avenue so that I can use the money in either account to fund real estate investments. Obviously, I want to take advantage of the company match because that is essentially free money. 

My question is, which plan is going to be more beneficial to fund? The 401k money goes in pre-tax whereas the Roth is going in after-tax. However, I get lost when it comes to the rules of each account and early withdrawals. From my understanding, I should be able to get a loan from my 401k account up to 50% or 100k, whichever is greater. Does the Roth allow me to do this as well? Are there any other ways that I might be able to use my 401k or Roth 401k as collateral in order to get a loan? I also know the benefits of having a self-directed IRA so that I can invest my funds how I please, but is it even possible for me to rollover my 401k or Roth into a SDIRA? Any bit of advice would help. Thank you!