All Forum Posts by: Alex L.

Thankfully I don't have an out of state LLC. I only have an LLC in the state where I invest in -- Ohio. A lot of people seem to think that you can't have an anonymous LLC in Ohio, but the truth is that you can; the formation documents clearly state that a member, manager, or other authorized representative can sign to form the LLC. In my case, I had a law firm handle it, so my hands are clear of the LLC from a public standpoint. Not trying to over-explain the details to you... just saying in case someone else in OH is looking for answers regarding anonymous LLCs, because I spent a long time searching high and low with no definitive answers.

I definitely know that my personal info can always be tied back to the LLC one way or another. But my goal is just to make it harder to do so... adding a few extra layers of security, if you will. I use a Google Voice # for all business-related aspects that has no ties to me, never use my real name when dealing with tenants, and property tax payment details in my county either aren't public or they're not easily accessible unless you go physically go downtown. Obviously, if someone wants to find out who is behind the LLC, nothing is impossible, and besides, a subpoena can easily do that. But, again, I'm just trying to get a bit more privacy on the surface, and not necessarily trying to hide myself for the purpose of avoiding lawsuits or something like that. I've never had to evict a tenant thank goodness, but god forbid I did, the last thing I'd want is for them to easily find my name and address on the auditor website and show up on my doorstep (which I've heard horror stories about). In that same vein, I'm pretty confident a tenant won't spend the time and money paying a skip tracer or private investigator to locate the owner of the LLC when they couldn't even pay their rent.

However, if they have two braincells and know how to click the "Transfers" tab on the auditor page, where they can see I quit claimed the property to the LLC for $0, they'll figure out that I'm the owner.

I guess thinking about the "why do I need anonymity?" question, I've checked plenty of times on the auditor website to see who owned a property, saw that it was quit claimed to an LLC for $0, looked up the LLC, and confirmed the owner of the LLC was the previous owner of the property. So, knowing that I've done it before and have seen how easy it is to get that info just on the surface, makes me worried that someone with bad intentions might do the same thing. So, in short, the answer would be that I'm simply neurotic and paranoid. That's it and that's all. I have no bad intentions. Just anxiety about others who might, lol. Also, I do prefer to keep info about my assets from non-immediate relatives... I've a ton in the area, and good lord are they nosey.

Apologies for such a long response. I lack brevity. I think I'll consult an accountant that has in depth experience about real estate and LLCs and see what they have to see on the matter in terms of tax implications.

Thanks, Nathan. The thought process is that if someone were to look up said property on the auditor website, and see that the LLC "purchased" it from myself for a reasonable market price, then that someone would not make any direct connection between myself and the LLC. The LLC in question is anonymous, in that when looked up on the state registry it does not show ownership or management information -- only that the Registered Agent and individual authorized to form the LLC is an attorney's office. So, is someone were to look up the LLC, they wouldn't be able to tie me to it with a simple Google or business registry search.

On the other hand, if someone saw that the property was simply transferred to the LLC for $0 from myself, then it makes it pretty obvious that I'm the only behind the LLC because who on earth would practically give a property away to a company?

Now I just need to figure out tax implications.

I have a few properties under my name that I'd like to put under an "anonymous" LLC solely for privacy reasons. I know that I can simply quit claim the properties to the LLC, however this leaves a trail on the auditor website for my county, which would show that I transferred a property via quit claim to an LLC for $0... which makes it pretty clear that the LLC belongs to me.

I'm wondering if there are any sort of repercussions, or if it's even allowed, to "sell" your own property to your own LLC. In this situation, it'd be me funding the (single member) LLC with X amount of money, that would then be used to "purchase" the property from myself for X amount of money. That way on the auditor website, it looks as if I sold the property to a third-party company that is not affiliated with myself. I'm imagining there's some tax implications, but not certain if that can be dealt with.

I'd love to hear some advice. 

Also, just to be clear, I'm aware that putting properties in an LLC doesn't entirely shield me from the public view. I'm simply more concerned about shielding myself at least to some extent from nosey, prying eyes -- whether that be tenants or family. I'm a very private person, so the more privacy I'm able to have, the better. I've already had some people look me up on the auditor site with the intentions of buying my properties from me, so I can only imagine what someone with more hateful intentions might do with such information.

Any property that I essentially get for "free" after a BRRRR that also has cash flow -- even if it's not ideal -- is a win in my book. I'd personally hold onto it, especially if appreciation is in your favor. Doesn't seem like it'll hurt to wait and see since it's not costing you anything.

Typically I BRRRR any property that I purchase, but if I were in your situation, I'd simply use whatever cashflow is available to take care of any immediate needs, or to pay myself back for paying out-of-pocket for them prior to renting the place (i.e. leaking plumbing, damaged stairs). Things like the driveway, or old aluminum windows, I'd simply deal with once the maintenance fund has enough in it to warrant it. So, that might mean living with a not-so-great driveway or ugly outdated windows for a while, but oh well. If it works, and isn't causing a potential risk/hazard, then it's cosmetic and can wait.

 Hi Jose, I'm located in Youngstown and always interested in acquiring a new buy and hold. Feel free to send me a message with details on the property, would love to strike a deal if it sounds good. 

Yup. About to the point where it'll make more sense for me to hire a full-time handyman/contractor. That's always been the plan, but I'm definitely thinking about it a lot more now lol.

I would call either (a) an appliance tech, or (b) a local PM company that might be willing to go check things out for you for the right price. I run a third-party walkthrough service called We Do Walkthroughs that does exactly what it sounds like, but we're located in Youngstown, OH. If your property is in that area, feel free to reach out and we can certainly go take a look. Otherwise, I'd imagine those are your only two real options... unless you've got a similar walkthrough company nearby.

Depends on what you consider to be a lot of money. We net ~123k/year together from our W2s and are able to save ~42% of that per year by being frugal and living below our means in a LOCL area. These savings have been used for down-payments several times. And as for "How do you get your money back," the same way you get your money back by investing in dividend stocks. Properties are investments, so we look at them as a way to park our money, and then we receive dividends in the form of rent... and then they may also appreciate, and we'll see those realized gains if and when we sell. We did not always make this kind of money -- my first job was as a cashier and theirs was as a dish washer -- but we bettered ourselves and aimed for better opportunities through a mix of school and simple desire. They went to a coding boot camp and now work in IT, and I searched high and low for some sort of job that wouldn't make me tear my hair out and landed in the finance world. Note, this is all within the span of the last 8-10 years.

It seems like you're more interested in acquiring a property and turning an immediate profit with none of your own money invested at all. While it's not necessary impossible, the only way you'd be able to do that is through BRRRR, and even then most investors end up having a little bit of their own money still left in the deal. Regardless, I have several properties that I've BRRRR'd and many of them left me with $0 of my own money in, meaning I'm generating pure profit from the first month of renting... however, that's going to take cold hard cash or risk through creative financing to buy and rehab the place. Depending on where you're investing, that'll be a lot more than $20-50k.

 It's only not scalable if you're not making enough income. I could purchase 1-5 houses per year using mine and my partner's own income from our W2s as what would be down-payments or even buying them outright if we wanted to. You just need to look at things differently and see how you can get from Point A to Point B by doing something else.