All Forum Posts by: Jean Castillo

Hi,

This might be a dumb question... I have a general question regarding buying a property using an LLC. I will be closing a cash offer deal with a wholeseller and this is my first time purchasing a property using my LLC. For the signature block, shall I sign using my personal name/signature or should I sign as the LLC? The property will be under the LLC name. I'm not sure if it really makes a difference since the LLC is tied to my name (sole proprietor).

I asked around and received mixed answers. The contract states that the Assignee/Buyer is the LLC.

Thanks in advance.

@Yang Zhao

Check in Glen Burnie at Tanyard Springs. Properties have gone up in value anywhere from 30-50k in the last 3 years. A few new developments are popping up and thats bringing price up. Thats like 30 min from fort meade.

Hi,

One of my properties had a hefty water bill due to inconsiderate tenants using more water than needed and I would like to install a water flow meter that has a cap per day (landlord pays for water/sewage). Essentially, I would like to assign each unit a usage of "x" gallons per day before closing the water valve when threshold is met to regulate the units. I've done research but most of what I've found is for emergency use (leak systems) or just plain monitoring without automatic shutoff. Can someone point me in the right direction for this? A brand that's recommended for this? Thanks in advance.

@Jonathan Tavarez

Thanks Jonathan. As of right now, there is a utility relief program that we are planning on taking if the pardon doesn’t work out. City basically takes over 50% of the excess and us take care of the bill plus the remainder 50%. It helps but still sucks.

I will post again the final say on Monday which we should be meeting with city.

@Bjorn Ahlblad

Bjorn,

Thanks for your response.
Yeah I understand that. What's messed up about the situation is that we didn't had the utility switched over to us (new owners) at the time and didn't had a way of tracking water usage at the property. Utility took almost 3 months to switch the bill over to us.

We will talk to the city tomorrow and see what we can do about it. Hopefully asking nicely helps out our situation.

Bjorn,

Thanks for your response.
Yeah I understand that. What's messed up about the situation is that we didn't had the utility switched over to us (new owners) at the time and didn't had a way of tracking water usage at the property. Utility took almost 3 months to switch the bill over to us.

We will talk to the city tomorrow and see what we can do about it. Hopefully asking nicely helps out our situation.

Good Evening ALCON,

County has brought up to attention a water issue at one of our properties. My partner and I took possession of the property late October 2020 and water utility company just went up today (JAN 6, 2021) to check on the meter for the owner switch-over. Utility company noticed a usage of 80,000 gallons from late October 2020 which was out closing date thru JAN 6,2021 resulting in a $2,000 bill (landlord pays utilities). While speaking with the tenant, she mentioned that the toilet was always running water unless she opened the rear lid and pushed the seal IN to stop the water runoff. Apparently, this is an issue that was present prior to us taking ownership of the property. I'm not trying to point fingers as the previous owner might not be aware of this issue. However, the tenant was aware and never brought it to attention (she should've been proactive about it).

My end goal is to figure out a way of getting away from this bill or at least partially as neither of us were aware of the situation nor we had access to the property because they were all occupied and COVID concerns. Property is located in Frostburg, Maryland (Allegany County).

Some background before the actual questions...

A business partner and myself recently purchased a property for rental profit. Our initial thought was to have the property under our LLC - partnership (recently created within the past 2 months). We soon realized that the bank won't let us put the property under the LLC name due to age of the company. Bank told us the company has to be active for 2-3 years and have some cash flow history prior to transferring the property to the LLC name. We ended up purchasing the property under our personal names. That being said, we are planning on purchasing additional properties in the near future (2-3 months) and they will all be under our names (unless there is another solution to put them under the LLC).

Question is... I heard that in order to transfer a property to a company name it can cost anywhere from $3,000-$5,000. If that's the case, what should be the best approach to this without killing our profits? Also, I've read in some posts that each property should be in its own personal LLC vs having multiple properties under the same LLC which doesn't make sense to me. I also heard having a "mother" LLC owner of other LLCs which would essentially be dedicated to each individual property. All of these options would require that the LLC (or LLC's) be active for a few years before transferring the "ownership/name" based on the bank's statement).

Our end goal is to keep purchasing properties in the near future while doing it the smart way and protecting our personal interests. We are new to LLCs and rental property as partners. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.