On the other hand, keep in mind that there are costs associated with maintaining an LLC (such as the $800 annual franchise tax in California).2.

If they want to operate a franchise or licensed model where a local business operator runs the shop and Zillow provides the back office (marketing, sales, branding, etc), fine.MacDonalds is really three main businesses.

You still file an annual franchise tax return in Texas, but no tax will be due in most circumstances (unless you're making quite a bit of money).

I have owned my own brokerage which we sold to a large franchised company in 2010.I have been investing in the real estate space in Omaha and Lincoln for many years. 

The DST is not obligated to pay the $800 franchise tax mentioned above, and can contain as many assets as you like.

I was in the car business for 23 years, ultimately owning a minority share of multi-franchise dealership group.  

Is it best to contact these franchises myself or should I go through a commercial real estate agent or attorney?

., so I simply purchased a HomeVestors franchise which kind of got me going right away. 

Originally posted by @Jennifer Van vlymen:We have a four complex investment and Have been told it’s best to put it into an LLC but in California it’s taxes/cost are Outrageous our main focus for that was to protect it from lawsuits ...are there any other ways to do so that it’s protected As a single situation in other words if we do get sued they can’t go after anything else that we own in California The one entity that many investors in California use to avoid the foreign filing fees is the Delaware Statutory Trust, which can be implemented into your asset protection strategy but does not require the CA franchise taxes you expect from an LLC, or Series LLC.

@Mike Muniz if you just want it for more access go with a smaller brokerage so you dont have to pay office, franchise, andc other fees.