Incorporate Or Not To Incorporate

[William Ellis]

I am new to Bigger Pockets so this is my first post.

My wife and I are looking to get into property investing and I am currently in the process of getting my real estate license while working a regular full time job.

I have started a corp that I am not using yet. Does anyone have any idea as to whether buying and renting/flipping houses would be better under a corp or in our personal names?

If a corp then C-corp or S-corp.. what is your recommendations and/or experiences?

Thanks for any input.

[Hattie Dizmond]

There is a BP member who I'm sure will jump on this thread and beat me up about how LLC's are a bunch of hooey and an umbrella policy is all you need. Wrong. Let me just get that out of the way up front.

Now...you don't want a C-corp or an S-corp. You want an LLC. The LLC gives you the corporate protection of C-corp. However, you can file form 2553 with the IRS and have your LLC taxed like an S-corp. You have the best of both worlds...the protection of a corporation with the pass-through taxation of an S-corp, so that you avoid the double dip with the corp getting taxed and then you getting taxed on the same money.

And make no mistake, there is asset protection that comes with an LLC designation. As long as you don't knowingly or willingly participate in fraud or other illegal activities, you - as an individual - are not responsible for the liabilities of the corporation.

Hope that helps.