I like the anonymity of having one.  

Managing: My family does construction and would be happy to do the work ourselves, but I am wondering if the payment and anonymity offers enough value to add my current property management company in the mix on the 5-unit?  

A trustee as the recorded legal title holder can preserve proper chain of title custody while providing really nice anonymity to boot if you want some additional privacy.

There's no reason you should be responding to anonymous solicitations when you can attend a few local real estate clubs and probably meet as many lenders as you need, eye-to-eye and learn their lending criteria.

It seems people want to hide behind the keyboard anonymously without human contact in a business that is still person-to-person. 

An LLC is useful for two things: anonymity and legal protection.

You could use a third party agent to shield yourself with some anonymity. 

They both provide the same protection and both can be created with anonymity in place.

The land trusts will avoid the Due On Sale clause of the mortgages and also create anonymity with the property ownership.

I've always presented my deals to the world, having "after action" reports published for most of my rental property transactions. Posting in the forums and adding investments to my profile page has been valuable. It g...