I would take the money out of a retirement account if it makes sense.Yes - distribution from a retirement account will be subject to federal taxes, state taxes and penalties.However, it would be subject to federal/state taxes anyway when you take it out in the future.Therefore, the net difference is 'penalties'.If you can acquire a deal for less than 10% of FMV, you already stabilized your net worth.There is also a value in getting into real estate sooner(to learn).You may want to first see if you can do a loan against your retirement account first.Best of luck.

You're not going to find the answer for your situation in Gates, just the overarching remedial intent of Sec 121.

I work full-time, so I am not interested in doing real estate as my day job right now, I just wanted to obtain the license to have access to the MLS and to help with our future flips and rentals that we acquire.

We will likely acquire a new cash-flowing building every 1-3 years over the next decade and hope to retire off of the rental income while our stock portfolio grows until we are 50, then we will untap those until we are 60, then we will untap retirement accounts, etc. 

Your legal remedy is to force the seller to close through specific performance, and if you had sufficient language in your liquidated damages and default language the seller may also have to pay your legal fees.

If it is impossible for you to look at the property prior to purchasing, you MUST have trusted partners that can point out repairs/concerns and estimate (in dollar terms) the remediation plan.  

Hello all,I am looking to purchase a corner lot but it is hard to acquire financing.

We were made aware of this opportunity off-market and were able to negotiate a transaction to acquire the asset ahead of it coming to market.

Purchase price: $1,645,000 Cash invested: $475,000 Our firm acquired this property with significant deferred maintenance to be addressed, but with rents ~$200 per month below market.

Purchase price: $25,000 Cash invested: $300,000 Sale price: $715,000 We acquired several abandoned and functionally obsolete duplex buildings from our city's land bank authority.