Seller doesnt want to sell to an LLC... Should I be worried?

[Zane McLaughlin]

Okay so we have this house that the owner wants to get rid of. The house is in disrepair, but he wants this to be a seller financing deal to send money to him every month as a mortgage payment. The house is manageable and is a good price for us so the deal sounds good, but just before we meet with his lawyer and go over the terms, we learn that he doesn't want to sign the house over to an LLC, but wants me, my wife, my partner and HIS wife to sign the contract, and to keep our company name off of the contract.

This immediately sends up red flags for me. I mean, I know that he is doing his due diligence to cover himself, and I know that neither me or my partner would ever do anything to screw him over, and I know that the seller doesn't know that we wouldn't, but still something doesn't seem right.

The same names going on the contract are the same names that own the company. Only without the LLC on the contract, this opens us up to much more liability.

Am I freaking out for nothing, or am I right in feeling icky about all this?

[Harry Gamble]

It sounds like the seller is thinking like a bank would. If a bank does a loan in the name of an LLC, it would require personal guarantees of most or all of the LLC members. If an LLC does not have much history to show in the way of financial statements, the bank may require that the loan be done in their names personally.