GA RE attorney says land trusts not legal; use living trust + LLC

[Mike Percy]

Hi BPers (and, I hope, helpful lawyers),

I have read online that one can secure traditional financing while getting asset protection by getting a traditional residential mortgage in one's own name, putting the title in a land trust at closing time and then, after closing, assigning an LLC as the sole beneficiary of that land trust. This is a strategy recommended by some people, especially Chris Coons from Anderson Advisors (see here and here) for reasons explained in those links and at the bottom of this post.

I spoke to a Georgia real estate attorney (closing attorney) earlier today about this and he told me that land trusts are illegal in Georgia. He also suggested that I may be able to achieve the same benefits and protections by following the same strategy using a revocable living trust instead of a land trust.

Is he right?

1. Are land trusts illegal (or effectively unusable) in Georgia? More to the point, will it be impossible for me to get title insurance with the title held in a land trust (as he says)?
2. Would a revocable living trust be an acceptable substitute for a land trust if I want to follow this strategy?
3. Are there drawbacks to this approach (vs. quit-claiming or closing in an LLC and using commercial financing) that I would be wise to consider?

As many investors know, while doing a quit-claim deed to assign ownership from an individual to an LLC is fairly common practice, it comes with the risk of a traditional loan being called due when a routine title audit discovers the reported change in ownership. That financial risk is what I want to avoid by using a trust, while also achieving inside liability protection via the LLC.

Thanks in advance for any input / non-advice. I know you are not my lawyer!

Note: I intend to check with another GA attorney on this but it would be very nice to get a sanity-check from the experienced folks on this forum.