Partnerships and LLC's

[Kathy Corressell]

I have 2 properties with partners and I'm getting some conflicting guidance from real estate attorneys on how to handle them.

The first property is more straight forward. Its a completely 50/50 partnership between my business partner and I. The property is in Florida. The loan is in my name, but both of our names are on the title of the house. We have an LLC and an operating agreement. Our attorney says although the loan terms say we can not transfer the title of the property we can still quit claim deed it to the LLC as its done all the time and no banks call the loan due. Right now we have just left the title in our 2 names as we aren't sure what's best.

The second in more complex its a 3 way partnership. My business partner and I brought in a 3rd party as a passive investor. The 3rd investor put up 70% of the cash and put the loan in her name and my partner and I did all the work and manage the property. We did the same thing, created another LLC and have an operating agreement. However this property is in Indiana and we were originally told by the bank, title company and lawyer that we could quit claim deed the property to the LLC the next day after closing. After a big run around, the bank came back to say that no in fact we are not allowed to transfer the property. Now our attorney says that since the bank has flat out told us no we should not go ahead and do it as apparently everyone else does. So the title is in the name of our 3rd investors solely. And our Indiana attorney says we should have been able to close in the LLC's name.

Just wondering how to best structure partnerships when it comes to whos name the title is in, whos name the loan is in, how do we get the property in the name of the LLC?

Hope this makes sense. Thanks in advance for any advice!