Tampa, FL - 4 Plex Buy and Hold LLC Question

[Kellen Driscoll]

Hey BP,

I have a situation where I need hard money in order to close quickly on 2 duplexes. I want to live in one unit but my hard money lender will only lend to an LLC. My thoughts are to create an LLC and buy the properties with hard money and then transfer either one or both of the duplexes back into my name so that I can find a bank to refinance me out of the high interest rate and into a conventional mortgage for my primary residence.

Does anyone have any advice or concerns with this?

[Antoine Martel]

We always buy our properties with LLC's, and I recommend that you do the same in order to protect yourself. After you have done this, you can get the loan from the HML to the LLC and you can hold that for about 12 months. Then at this point in time you can go to a conventional lender and do a long-term mortgage. That is what I would recommend. If you are going to live in one of the units you might have a better shot at getting a conventional loan right up front with lower expenses, but of course that will take a longer amount of time to close than a HML!