Flipping in Personal Name or Entity

[Nghi Le]

I recently got a Partnership LLC as part of a guru package back in July. However, my main strategy is to fix and flip homes. I've also learned that in terms of asset protection and to maximize my tax benefits, it's better to flip through an S-Corp.

A while ago, people have told me that if I'm just doing flipping, I don't really need an entity; that's more of a buy and hold strategy or if I do a lot of flips.  Otherwise, I can just flip in my name and have an umbrella insurance policy to protect myself (which I do have).

I really want to convert my LLC to an S-Corp election, but is it really necessary at this point if I'm relatively new and haven't done much flips? It's approaching year-end, and all of this entity stuff has been really giving me a headache and taking my time away from the thing that I really want to do: flipping homes. I don't know if I should have the S-Corp set up before year end to maximize tax benefits (or at least not screw myself over), but I honestly haven't made any money yet (just a LOT of expenses) outside of my regular IT job.

So yeah, I'm leaning towards just doing my first few flips just in my name.  It's also easier for the financing too.  But I've noticed that most people locally are flipping under an entity.  Any thoughts?