Anderson Business Advisors

[Ken Weiner]

I'm interested in talking to anyone that has hired Anderson Business Advisors for help with asset protection strategies.  This is the firm founded by author Clint Coons who wrote Asset Protection for Real Estate Investors.

I'd like to hear about your experiences, good or bad.  I am considering having them help with the creation of LLCs and land trusts for my buy-and-hold investment properties. They were not able to provide references due to client confidentiality.  

[Lee G.]

Ken - I haven't hired those guys but I'd argue a couple things: 

1) Too many attorneys in the REI space $ell fear that you need this or that structure in order to protect your assets.

2) Too many investors get scared off by what appears to be something complex -- forming a holding company (whether LLC, LLP, C or S-corp). It's not that complex.

3) Too many investors are under-insured and fail to frequently review their insurance policies. 

Bottom line is this: 

1) Find a competent attorney that will give you the holding company structure of your choice (talk to your CPA, not your attorney about what is best for you) documents in a word format. It's all broiler plate anyway. You should be able to reuse your docs for each deal you do without having to go back to the attorney for a new op agreement etc. 

2) Forming a LLC etc is easy. Don't get scared by the legalese or the crazy attorneys trying to sell something. A LLC is just a bucket for carrying something around. In our case, it's a piece of property. At the same time, USE your holding companies. Make sure you shift an asset into it. I'm frequently shocked by the number of people who maintain rentals in their personal name. Don't forget to run separate books and bank accounts for your holding companies and have an annual meeting.

3) Review your insurance policies frequently. Make sure you have enough insurance personally (umbrella plus good underlying liability in relationship to your net worth) and corporately (same thing - umbrella plus underlying coverage). This is your first line of defense. Your Wyoming/Nevada/Delaware LLC won't do crap for you if a tenant slips and falls. It just hides the fact that you are the owner.

Anyway, final disclaimer: I'm not an attorney or a CPA. I don't pretend to be one even on the internet. This is my advice based on what's worked for me. Don't get scared off by some attorney. Get out there, write offers and do deals.