The good thing is there people not in the real estate industry who are looking to get a better return than bank accounts and cds are providing, and want to diverisfy out of the mainstream stock market.

Welcome to BP and the world of RE.PE ratios are used with stock investments, performance is more volitile in the market and applies to the number of shares.I suggest you search here for "Internal Rate of Return" (IRR), "Capitalization Rate" (CAP) and "Opportunity Costs" as used in RE to measure performance.

You have to keep in mind the housing stock here is very old, so rewiring, re plumbing and new HVAC can be common even for a rental.

The following are exempt from the licensing requirements of this act: (a) Any bank, savings bank, trust company, savings and loan association, building and loan association, industrial loan company or credit union organized, chartered or authorized under the laws of the United States or of any state which is authorized to make loans and to receive deposits; 3(b) any entity directly or indirectly regulated by an agency of the United States or of any state which is a subsidiary of any entity listed in subsection (a) if 25% or more of such entity’s common stock is directly owned by any entity listed in subsection (a); (c) any person who is licensed as a supervised lender pursuant to K.S.A. 16a-2-301 et seq., and amendments thereto; (d) the United States of America, the state of Kansas, any other state, or any agency or instrumentality of any governmental entity; and (e) any individual who with their own funds for their own investment makes a purchase money mortgage or finances the sale of their own property, except that any individual who enters into more than five such investments or sales in any twelve-month period shall be subject to all provisions of this act.

I have a company 401k plan that only allows mutual fund investments so I decided to open a Roth IRA to do some stock investing.Does anyone actively invest in stocks?

they never showed up. i can't tell you how many people think investors are rich. yes, it can be better returns than the stock market but it takes a long time & a lot of $/ & some personal time & stress.you're young. go to college & get your degree. much better return on your $ long-term.

Doctors and teachers faired well, insurance and stock brokers passed, but Realtors came in behind used car dealers and only beat out telemarketers.

I owe a chunk in taxes since I sold some stock and a house I had the first time home buyer loan on.

The only potential cross-over, if you will, between using 401K funds and your deriving a personal benefit that I can think of is the complicated strategy known as Rollover as Business Startup (ROBS), where you establish a C corp for your new business, and your 401K (typically money in an old 401K) can purchase the stock of that C corp.

I have listed a few of them to point you in the right direction:1) Specialization: while some custodians specialize in traditional investments (stocks, bonds, and mutual funds), others specialize in alternative investments (real estate, private mortgages, tax liens, livestock, private businesses, or other non-traded security).