Quit Claim Deed Question

[Bobby S]

I own but have loans on two properties - a fourplex and a duplex. I live in one of the units of the fourplex and rent out the other units and rent out both units in the duplex.

I didn't look into the legal ramifications of owning rental property as well as I should have when I purchased these properties - now I am looking to put each of the properties into separate LLCs to protect my assets.

I was told by an attorney that I could do a quit claim deed into a LLC, but when I asked my lending bank (Citibank), they said I would have to refinance each property with their commercial banking division. This seems absurd to me given that I will be the sole owner of the LLC.

A few questions:

1. Is a quit claim deed the best route?

2. Would my lending bank even know if I did that? In other words are they sent something, or do they typically check periodically even if you are paying on time?

3. What would the potential ramifications be? The bank of course wasn't helpful on this because they wanted me to refinance and get a few thousand more dollars per property on their books.

Thanks for your help on this.

Bobby