Losing a job ranks among the highest of all stress-causing situations.  The most immediate and major issue most people must deal with is providing for themselves and their families.  It’s important for the recently unemployed to get a grip on their financial situation right away.  Job loss, problems paying bills and foreclosures on top of the everyday stress of living in today’s society can push someone over the edge. With all that a recently laid off employee has to face, having the assurance that the mortgage will be paid can make the difference between the ability to move forward with an optimistic attitude in the search for a new job and getting caught in a dangerous spiral of despair and despondency.

Lasaii, a division of Uranga & Associates works closely with the Human Resource Departments, Outplacement Firms and Executive Search consultants who are assisting recently displaced personnel. Our company offers a viable solution to mitigate the crisis many unemployed may be facing in meeting their mortgage payment.

Retirement monies can be structured to be applied to an existing mortgage or new real estate purchase.  Known as the OUTSIDE® method this comprehensive estate planning approach to IRA real estate incorporates real estate and individual tax law within IRA regulations to support the purchase of real estate while at the same time ensuring the security and longevity of the principal of the retirement fund.  The flexibility of this program allows for either short term cash flow relief or longer term diversification of retirement monies into real estate.  Uranga and Associates offers free consultations to the soon to be, or recently, unemployed to determine the compatibility of the OUTSIDE® structure to the individual’s needs.

Andrew Waite, publisher of Personal Real Estate Investor Magazine discovered the existence of the OUTSIDE method for the first time when he saw our advertisement in Delta's Sky magazine.  His interest peaked, Mr. Waite contacted our office to learn more about the strategy of purchasing real estate with an IRA that allowed for personal occupancy.  His research lead him to speak with principals of the leading Self Directed IRA custodian companies about this alternative strategy and to compare the benefits of each.  The result of his learning expedition into the land of IRA real estate lead him to write the lead story in his November isuue, Plan "B" for "Better"

The mark OUTSIDE established and used by Uranga & Associates for more than five years has been awarded a certificate of registration by the United States Patent and Trademark office.

Insurers need to be able to meet their commitments to policyholders at all times, even in the case of unforeseen losses, so all insurers must have regulatory capital available to meet these commitments. To allow for the unforeseen losses, regulators make insurance carriers hold extra capital over and above their liabilities, which can act as a 'buffer' to ensure absolute protection for policyholders. When an insurance company talks about their 'surplus regulatory capital' they are describing the regulatory value of the available excess assets on top of the required minimum regulatory 'buffer'.

Cases featured in this section are actual case histories of IRA/real estate plans structured by Uranga & Associates. Names have been changed to protect the privacy of our client(s).

Case Outline: Mr. & Mrs. Kelly, both in their early 40’s, operate a Bed and Breakfast Inn, in which they also live, in a beautiful historic down town neighborhood of a cosmopolitan city in the south western united states.  The home next door to their Inn became available for sale and the Kellys dreamed of buying it as an annex to their current facility, providing additional rooms for their business as well as the opportunity to expand their own living space.  Their current finances did not allow for additional mortgage expense and so they believed their dream to be unattainable until they came across Uranga and Associates’ advertisement in Frontier’s Wild Blue Yonder in-flight magazine.  

Summary: The purchase price of the property the Kellys wanted to buy was $385,000.  They had an IRA value of $200,000 which they transferred to establish a SAFE HARBOR® IRA account as the foundation for their IRA real estate plan.  The IRA value was not enough to structure cash flow to satisfy one hundred percent of the mortgage payment however, the addition of the IRA cash flow to the Kelly’s current income along with additional income the new annex to their Bed and Breakfast would produce was more than enough to qualify them for their loan.  Uranga & Associates then structured the IRA, in coordination with a commercial property mortgage in the amount of $308,000, using non IRA monies necessary for the down payment to purchase the building. 

Business tax offsets, coupled with allowable real estate offsets will more than satisfy the tax liability generated by the IRA cash flow, allowing the Kellys to gradually transfer the value of their IRA into the real estate with little or no tax consequence. The OUTSIDE™ structure of their IRA allowed the Kellys to expand their business and improve their own standard of living, while at the same time make a long term investment in real estate which will contribute to their eventual retirement.

Other estate planning benefits are derived from the OUTSIDE™ structure.  Please visit our website for further information. http://urangafinancial.com/IRA_401K_real_estate/benefits_heirs_more.php?topic=basis

New account processing times are lengthening with our SAFE HARBOR custodians.  Processors report such a large increase in new account requests, paperwork is getting backed up and call back times have increased from an average of 8 minutes to longer than 20 minutes.  This appears to be as a result of the record breaking fluctuations experienced in the stock market over the last several weeks.  No longer are people bragging about the 10, 15 or 20 percent their broker is making for them in the market.  Instead they are boasting about their FDIC secured CD, Treasury Bills/Notes or their IRA annuity guaranteeing no less than a 3% return.  A 3% gain today looks almost too good to be true to those many individuals who have watched their retirement accounts plummet to 60 percent or less of their value from just a few months ago.

In these times of financial uncertainty and especially in the wake of the collapse of Lehman Brothers and concerns of AIG's uncertain future, those of our clients who have their IRAs SAFE HARBORED in an insurance company product want to be assured of the security of their assets.  For this purpose I am posting information and press releases issued by two of our major SAFE HARBOR® custodians to appraise our clients of the current financial stability of their SAFE HARBOR®.

Cases featured in this section are actual case histories of IRA/real estate plans structured by Uranga & Associates.  Names have been changed to protect the privacy of our client(s).

Case outline: The Clarks are in their 40s and own two homes.  One home, in a state they have recently moved from, they plan to eventually sell but are reluctant to sell in a depressed market. The other home they purchased as their replacement primary residence upon moving.  After living in their new state of residence for a short while they discovered a building lot on a small island in the middle of a local river.  They fell in love with the building site and determined this lot to be the location for their dream home. The Clarks went to their financial advisor to explore how they might afford to buy the building lot and their advisor, suggesting they look into the possibility of utilizing their IRAs, referred the Clarks to Uranga & Associates to structure an IRA real estate plan by the OUTSIDE™ method.

The Clarks combined their IRAs to allocate a total of $285,000 to the purchase of their dream building lot.  The Clarks did not have enough non IRA cash for a down payment to qualify for a loan on bare land so Uranga & Associates assisted them in refinancing their current primary residence to cash out enough money to make the down payment.  The Clarks plan to use proceeds from the eventual sale of the former primary residence to pay down the lot loan and then take out a construction loan to build their new primary residence.  When they eventually move into their new primary residence, their current home will be kept as a residential rental investment property.

To establish the structural foundation of the IRA real estate plan Uranga & Associates assisted the Clarks in transferring their allocated IRA monies to a SAFE HARBOR® IRA account.   This SAFE HARBOR® IRA account, with a potential to earn 5% or greater as a ten-year average, insures against loss of principal value due to investment exposure during the life time of the contract.  Uranga & Associates then structured the Clarks SAFE HARBOR® IRA account to provide a reliable monthly income stream to be used to cover the mortgage payments on the land.  The tax liability generated by distributions from the IRA was calculated to be offset by allowable real estate tax deductions between the existing two residences. 

Summary: The implementation of the OUTSIDE™ structure of IRA real estate allowed the Clarks to take advantage of a rare opportunity to purchase a unique building lot for their personal use within a secure financial framework.  Ultimately, when the Clarks sell their former primary residence, move into their new dream home and convert their current primary residence into a rental property, they will still have an income stream from their IRA to apply to their new home mortgage.  They will also benefit from rental income from the investment property they will now consider to be a part of their retirement portfolio.  Additionally there are estate planning benefits to this IRA/real estate plan that are not covered in this brief synopsis.

Read more on inheritance benefits:
http://urangafinancial.com/IRA_401K_real_estate/benefits_heirs.php

Many of our clients ask us why their CPA or attorney is unfamiliar with, and therefore skeptical of, the OUTSIDE™ method. We have found the best way to explain this is to use an analogy.

The OUTSIDE™ method is like Estate Planning. They are both a process or structure designed to meet the needs of the client. Estate Planning is a specialty that has been developed over time by CPA, Financial Advisor and Law firms to preserve wealth and maximize gain in an estate for the benefit of the owner of the estate as well as the heirs. You cannot go to an IRS tax book to find a tax code for Estate Planning because it is not a single entity. Estate Planning is a structure customized to a client’s individual circumstance that encompasses many different elements that are regulated by individually legislated Tax Codes. The same is true of the OUTSIDE™ method in that there is no one Tax Code dedicated to its implementation. OUTSIDE™ is Uranga & Associate’s registered name for a structure that is customized to each client utilizing all applicable legislated tax codes pertaining to income, real estate and individual as well as employer sponsored retirement plans. Since the OUTSIDE™ method cannot be found in any tax book and is a proprietary process that is not included in the curriculum of law or accounting education, your CPA or attorney may not be familiar with its existence.

Visit the due diligence section of our website for more information:
http://www.urangafinancial.com/due_diligence/index.php

Cases featured in this section are actual case histories of IRA/real estate plans structured by Uranga & Associates. Names have been changed to protect the privacy of our client(s).

Case outline: Mr. Brown is 64 years old, married, owns a primary residence and has a net worth of over 3 million, not including his IRA accounts. Prior to contacting Uranga & Associates Mr. Smith and his wife - both retired - had been researching the possibility of purchasing a vacation home in a western ski resort. Mr. Brown first heard of the OUTSIDE™ method of investing in real estate from searching the web. After completing the Compatibility form on the Uranga web site Mr. and Mrs. Brown had a telephone meeting with an Uranga consultant to more thoroughly understand how the OUTSIDE™ structure could apply to their scenario and determine if it would be of benefit to them.

The Browns decided to allocate $750,000 of their IRA to the purchase of their $900,000 ski condo, preferring to utilize their IRA money for the real estate purchase than to use income generated from pensions and investments. Using $260,000 of non IRA monies for the down payment the Browns obtained a second home mortgage arranged by Uranga & Associates to finance the balance of the purchase price. To establish the structural foundation of the IRA real estate plan Uranga & Associates assisted Mr. Brown in transferring his allocated IRA monies to a SAFE HARBOR® IRA account. This SAFE HARBOR® IRA account, with a potential to earn 5% or greater as a ten-year average, insures against loss of principal value due to investment exposure during the life time of the contract. Uranga & Associates then structured Mr. Brown’s SAFE HARBOR® IRA account to provide a reliable monthly income stream to be used to cover the mortgage payments. Any tax liability generated by distributions from the IRA was calculated to be offset by allowable real estate tax deductions, resulting in a zero tax outcome.

Summary: The implementation of the OUTSIDE™ structure of IRA real estate has enabled the Browns to purchase a ski vacation condo for their personal use within a secure financial framework. Ultimately, Mr. Brown and his wife plan to sell their vacation home in approximately ten years when they anticipate their interest in skiing to diminish. At that time they should expect to still retain approximately 75% of the original value of the IRA in the SAFE HARBOR™ account which may then be transferred to any investment of their choice. Believing their real estate purchase to be a sound investment, the Brown’s expect to benefit from a healthy capital gain. This gain, along with the principal value of the original down payment as well as the accumulation of IRA monies transferred into the real estate over the 10-year period, will be applied to their later retirement years. Additionally there are estate planning benefits to this IRA/real estate plan that are not covered in this brief synopsis.

Read more on vacation home benefits:
http://urangafinancial.com/IRA_401K_real_estate/benefits_more.php?topic=vacation

Read more on Estate Planning benefits:
http://urangafinancial.com/IRA_401K_real_estate/benefits_heirs.php