LLC formation advice

[Donnie Rath]

My fiance and I have purchased three properties, all in different states (CA, FL, TN). We opened up an LLC and EIN in the state of Florida, but we don't completely understand the next steps. I've heard it's a fairly quick and easy process to roll title of a property into the LLC, but I've also heard it may cost us each year at tax return time? Also, should we only roll our Florida property into the Florida LLC and open another one for the Tennessee property, or can we combine those into the existing Florida LLC?

For more context; we currently live in CA.  We have a short-term rental in Tennessee and another near Tampa, FL.  All three properties have some equity, approximately $500-600k combined, so not a huge amount.  If it matters, I work a lot of hours at my W-2 (firefighter) and my fiance is a nurse, so I don't believe we can quality as real estate professionals.  We are trying to get this figured out and pay off our Heloc so we can buy our next investment! Any advice is much appreciated.  Thank you!

[Jason Marino]

Hi Donnie,

It is actually possible for you to have all of your properties under the same structure and avoid the California franchise tax legally. The way that many people do this is the use of a Delaware Statutory Trust. This entity has many of the same benefits of a Series LLC, but it avoids the California franchise tax based on the fact that it is not an LLC. The Delaware Statutory Trust is usually paired with a Land Trust in this structure. The Land Trust is the title owner of the property, and the Land Trust is owned by an individual Series of the Delaware Statutory Trust in order to isolate each asset in its own entity.