All Forum Posts by: Peter S.

Hi Steve and Rich, I'm just beyond both of you up in Fallston just a stones throw away. I'm fairly new and working on my third flip. I'm actually in need of a savvy real estate attorney to help me set up a couple of entities for my business. Would that be a service either of you provide? If so please PM me. If not, would still be great to connect!

@James Miller see above please.

@Natalie Kolodij I have been trying to find an answer and hoping you can help! I want to set up an LLC with myself and business partner for our buy and holds, but I am told by my accountant that our LLC would basically act as an LP. He said that one of us would be the General Partner and the other the Limited Partner. I know that a General Partner (me) is personally liable....which I do not want.

He said we could set up a C-Corp to be the General Partner so that both my business partner and I could be the Limited Partners....but I'd rather not jump through so many hoops if I don't have to....

So just curious, what then is the purpose of a partnership LLC if it is just a LP which doesn't provide limited liability for both members?

What if it is not a husband and wife owned team? I'm looking to form an LLC for buy and holds with my business partner. My accountant told me that within the LLC, we would have to choose one member to be the general partner and another to be the limited partner since we'd be electing it to be treated as a partnership for tax purposes. Meaning it's an LLC that is basically a LP where the General Partner (me) is still personally liable. My accountant suggested we open a C-Corp to hold the position of the General Partnership stake. This makes no sense to me...how then is an LLC any different than an LP for partnerships?

A Land Trust can be used as a privacy barrier to separate you as the investor from the title. If combined with certain entities it can act as a stronger privacy barrier/asset protection. This is because you can put your property in trust without having to record the beneficial interest. You also have the ability to assign the beneficial interest without recordation. This is great for wholesaling in theory because you can purchase a property in Trust and then transfer the beneficial interest to another investor for a price. However, I read MD law concerning trusts and maybe I found a problem... Trust laws in MD affect trust formation....and they say that the beneficiary must be stated and recorded when you do the Deed to Trustee while recording the deed [Ann. 14-404 a (2)]. Which means beneficiary is known and recorded having no privacy benefit. Even worse it also states that "the beneficiary may not have any interest in trust property that can be assigned" [Ann. 14-402 a.(3)]...Which means beneficial interest cannot be assigned to someone else. If I'm reading this correct it defeats the purpose of a land trust for my uses as an investor/wholesaler and I should move on. Does anyone know if I'm interpreting the MD trust laws appropriately? Has anyone used Land Trusts in MD effectively? Have an attorney I could speak with? All help is appreciated. Thanks everyone!

Does anyone know of a knowledgeable real estate attorney who can help my company with asset protection/legal advice? I'm ideally looking for someone who is from the Harford County area which is local for me. We primarily buy and sell properties in this area. Any help is appreciated!

Thanks for your input Rich. You do make a good point. I am hoping I can work something out with a lender. It is a shame that so much equity would go to waste otherwise. 

I recently inherited a property as a "Tenant in Common". I am one of 5 co-owners. I would like to leverage my share to use as capital for my real estate investment company. The other co-owner's are unwilling to be guarantor's on any Home Equity Loan or Line of Credit that I try and take out. Is it possible for me to take out a Home Equity Loan or Line of Credit on just my portion without having the other co-owner's as guarantors? 

Thank you all for your advice. I'll keep digging and talk to an attorney and let you know what I find out!

Is there a way to transfer ownership of a property out of an LLC that you own 50% into solely your name without paying any transfer taxes?