Typically, IRA investors aren’t looking to back 30-year conventional mortgages; more often, they make loans with terms lasting from three months to a few years to fixer-uppers, small-scale developers or families who are relocating and need a bridge loan between home sales. Adams foreclosed on the house, his mother’s IRA spent $14,000 to finish fixing it up, and they sold it in three months for $85,000, he says, adding that he helped his mother’s IRA increase in value to $140,000 from $50,000 in five years. Dennis Galbraith, who also lives in Houston, makes short-term bridge loans with his IRA, for which he says he charges 12% to 15% interest, and takes what’s called “first-lien position,” meaning he’s first in line to get his money back from the borrower. With a self-directed IRA, you can invest in things other than mutual funds, such as rental property, businesses or community-bank stock — just as long as any profits go to the IRA and not your regular bank account. read more