I have 20k to work with and I'm just looking for some options or suggestions to get a better return for my retirement account.

Rules are rules, its your business, retirement, money, and credit on the line!

My parents are boomers and they retired over the last couple months.

Retirement fund? 

Our ultimate goal is to use our real estate cash flow to fund early retirement in 15 years.

Not many banks specialize in non-recourse lending in the retirement area, but Solera Bank is one of the few banks that offers lending within the retirement industry.

Oil is still weak, Boomers are retiring debt and Millennial buyers are not out in force yet.  

so I am relatively new to the site and I love following the stories.My father and I are looking to help make him some extra money so he can retire early as well as set me up for the future.

I was only familiar with collateralized debt.So when I was lamenting the fact that I could not get money for more homes an entrepreneur friend said, “call the bank and get a signature loan”.Having never heard of this before, I called, and sure enough, IF you have good credit and income, a bank will give you $25-150K just for your signature…to go buy cars, pools and pay for stuff you don’t need.Or, you can use it to buydistressed real-estate.So, here’s where it could go bad.Don’t be stupid.Have your exit strategies.Then execute.My typical deals look like this:HUD/Homepath/VA forclosure wants $41K for a home with an ARV of $65-75K.Let’s assume it needs $10K.I start my bidding ridiculously low, so $24K, but eventually get it for $28.5K.I use “cash” and close fast and get it rehabbed in 2 months…could be faster, but that’s the average.Immediately after I close, I am looking for ways to collateralize the debt…ie REFI.Because right now, I own the home OUTRIGHT, w/ no liens.I do have this other debt not associated with the home and I want to pay it off ASAP before I have to make my first payment.I can 1) use a portfolio lender (typically 80% of receipts, then I retire the rest of the loan w/ my cash).2) Wait 6 months and use traditional financing where I have the possibility to getting all of my money out of the deal since they go off of appraisals, not receipts, typically 75% LTV.While I wait 6 months, my payments on $35K are around $500/mo.Home rents for $850, so I can do this and still pay the bills.3) flip the property to a new home owner and make 7-10K after expenses or 4) do nothing and pay the house off in 7 yrs w/ the 9% signature loan.I hear of people using hard money and the expenses associated, but for the smaller deals like these, IF you have good credit, they don’t make sense.Thoughts?

While what @Brian Ky says is generally true, it may not apply to you completely.You may withdraw up to $10,000 from your retirement account to purchase your first home (that you will live in) without paying the 10% penalty.