Owning Residential RE in Your Name for Financing Purposes

[Jeff D.]

Hi everyone and thanks for taking your time to help me with my question.

I am familiar with commercial properties and the advantages of an LLC formation, however I have recently thought about entering another market and owning some residential multi-family housing. From everything I've read with an LLC structure financing is impossible from Residential lenders, which makes perfect sense. So i've decided that I would like to pursue these properties using my own name and adequate umbrella insurance coverage.

My question is, for those of you who own Residential RE in your name, did you/ do you set up an LLC for Property management purposes if you're going to be managing the properties yourself? I'm thinking that I'll purchase the property in my name to take advantage of the better financing from lenders, but I'd like to set up an LLC to manage the properties so as to set up a business checking account and separate finances from my personal accounts. I'd love to hear what you all do or think of my idea.

Thanks.

-J