LLC help for healthcare business and properties

[Bryan Hasley]

Hello BP community!

Long time listener, first time caller. Here's the skinny:

My brother and I own a restaurant. He handles the operations and I handle the capital. Simultaneously, I'm going to be starting another business in Healthcare and will also be buying my first 2 rental properties this year.

I've been told that if I put the properties under the LLC for our restaurant that it gives us more leverage if we wanted to buy a commercial property for our restaurant rather than lease. I could also see that being a situation for the healthcare business in which I would like to buy property instead of lease.

Is it beneficial to have everything under one LLC to maximize opportunity? If it's all under one LLC, doesn't that expose each company to unnecessary risk and defeat the purpose of an LLC? If separate LLC's are the way to go, should I be getting one for every new business venture?

I've asked a few lawyers, and they typically respond with telling me a CPA would be more knowledgeable, but when asking a few CPAs, they respond with the reciprocal. If anyone has any direction for me to continue my search, I'd be very appreciative!

Thanks!