Calling myself the property manager vs. landlord

[Thom S.]

I'm a newbie investor, with one SFH that I'm currently in the process of renting out. I've seen on BP and in a couple of books that some experts present themselves to tenants as the property manager, not the landlord. That makes sense to me, so as I've been showing my property that's what I did. Several of them have asked me outright if I was the landlord, and I evaded the question, but the impression I gave was that I'm not the landlord/owner.

So here's my question: when it comes time to pay me, aren't they going to have to put my name on the check? I clearly didn't think this through, and now I'm worried that I'll have to cop to the misdirection. Can anyone help here? I'm already in the thick of things, so I don't feel like I'll have time to create an LLC or some other business entity out of thin air. I'm kind of embarrassed to even ask the question, but I'm hopeful that someone out there can steer me in the right direction.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!