My daughter asked if she could rent the house my IRA hasn't bought yet
Three weeks into setting up a self-directed Roth and I hadn't gotten as far as who's allowed to live in the thing. Told my daughter about the plan at dinner and she asked, half joking, whether she could take the back bedroom and pay me rent. I said sure, why not, and then read the disqualified persons page on the custodian's site that night and didn't sleep great.
From what I can tell she's a lineal descendant, so she can't rent it at any price. Market rate doesn't fix it. Same for my parents. That part I think I've got.
What I can't work out is the smaller stuff. Can I drive out and mow between tenants? Can I meet a contractor at the door and let him in so he isn't standing on the porch? The custodian's help page says the IRA can't receive services from me and then never defines services. I've seen people online say unpaid weekend repairs count, which would mean the mowing counts, which would mean pretty much anything I do with my hands counts.
The property is a $94,000 three bed in a small town forty minutes out. Forty minutes was the reason I liked it. Now the forty minutes feels like the trap, because if I owned this in my own name I'd be out there every other Saturday and I'd enjoy it.
I haven't funded anything or signed anything. I'm going to pay an attorney who actually does these for an hour before I do. If you've had that hour, what did you ask that you were glad you asked?