personal debt concerns

[Patrick Howell]

Hello everyone,

I currently own 1 rental property free clear and have it set up in the name of my LLC. Initially, I planned on trying to leverage this equity to purchase future rental properties, but was thinking about trying to clean up my personal debt. Could I take out a mortgage on my existing rental property through the LLC then pay off my personal debt with it? (Basically loan money to myself from the LLC).

[Mike V.]

I would definitely take out a mortgage just from a liability standpoint. The LLC is good for shielding your personal assets from lawsuits but it sounds like the LLC is richer than you so I would reverse that. Keep that rental property as poor as possible to take away any incentive to sue.