LLC or land trust in Florida with no mortgage

[David Floyd]

I currently have a quad Plex in my personal name that I need to move into a holding LLC or land trust. Most of my properties are in LLC's currently. I don't plan to sell this property or mortgage it in the future and do not currently have a loan on it. Land trusts seem like a good way to hold the property but wanted to get other opinions. I am interested in anonymity and also currently do not have insurance on this property. My plan is to probably get liability and fire insurance coverage only and do as much as I possibly can to prevent wind storm damage. I know there is another scheme where people create their own mortgage company to make the property appear to have no equity. 

[KC Ushijima]

If the Florida property is in your personal name, and then you transfer the property to a Florida LLC, it may trigger a property reassessment.

So you may want to consider using a land trust to avoid a property reassessment.

To give the appearance of no equity in the property, you may be referring to a friendly lien.  This is where you have one of your companies provide a secured loan or line of credit to the title holder of the property, and then your company can record a lien on the property.  So if a tenant or their attorney searched the property records, they will see that there is a recorded lien on the property.

Note: This information is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, financial, or investment advice. No attorney-client, fiduciary, or professional relationship is established through this communication.