Buying an LLC to purchase property

[Bryan Sykes]

In Florida, Joe Smith purchases a vacation rental property by having the highest bid at the court house. Three weeks later, Joe offers to sell the property to Mary Kay, an interested Buyer, at a reasonable profit. Joe tells Mary that he will create an LLC in whatever name she likes, such as Mary Kay LLC, and place the property inside that LLC. He says that Mary can then buy the LLC and own the property. Joe states that the reason he is doing this is to pay less tax. Mary completes a lien and title search and finds nothing that clouds the title and moves forward with the purchase. Is this practice legal? Does it allow investors to escape taxes? What are the pitfalls for Mary? Any other advice?