To LLC or not to LLC, that is the question.

[Aaron Bloodworth]

Hi everyone, A little bit about me to begin, I am a 22 year old guy living in Fayetteville, AR. I recently graduated from college and I am currently working a 9-5 unrelated to my degree (go figure). I am spending most of my efforts working on getting my start in real estate investing. Luckily, my job allows for me to spend most of my day listening to audio books and podcasts, so I am able to constantly pursue knowledge throughout the day! After considering many options, I have landed on wholesaling as a good jumping off point for my investing career. I have decided on this path for a few reasons. One, like many 22 year olds, I have much more ambition than cash. Wholesaling will allow me to spread out my initial costs over time. I will also be moving in about 2 years, so it will be a great learning experience for when I move to a larger market. It should be noted that I have not yet personally completed a wholesale deal. Of course, any thoughts and advice would be much appreciated about any of this. Here is the main issue I'm running into. I am trying to balance organized, knowledgeable planning vs. not getting bogged down with every detail. I want to put out our marketing campaigns under a company name to bolster credibility (the pains of being so young) and I am trying to figure out the most practical way to approach this issue legally. Should I go ahead and structure under an LLC or is there a better way to operate under a fictitious name at this point? It just seems presumptuous to organize under an LLC and go through that process without having successfully completed any deals of my own. I think there is a real need for honest, quality wholesalers in my area and I believe in our abilities to fill this need. Please feel free to offer any advice. Thanks!

[Sean Walton]

@Aaron Bloodworth i'm not a lawyer and this is not legal advice so do your due diligence. If getting an LLC is keeping your from starting your marketing then don't bother unless you have a lot of assets to protect. Also check with an attorney and CPA but if you are doing a lot of deals you may want to do an S-corp i think it is better tax wise but not my area of expertise. Use the money from your first deal to hire a good lawyer and CPA to advise you

If you want to market under a business name you can file a fictitious business name also known as a "doing business as" or DBA. This is usually pretty cheap $50 plus the cost of running an notification ad in your local paper for 4 weeks. You would still buy or contract the property under your personal name and there is no asset protection but it allows you to legally market under that name. This would most likely be filed with your county but may be different in your neck of the woods.