There are many reasons for creating an entity, taxes, liability, and anonymity among others.Perhaps when dealing with tenants, you want to be the manager, hard to do when your name is on the entity.Perhaps you take in a new partner.

The good news is that same attorney can make sure your investing is protected and as anonymous as your bank account can handle.Lean in real close and I will let you in on a secret.

first, I'll say that if you have a CPA , you should be asking him rather than an anonymous message board. ;)First, the IRS is going to wonder why they haven't heard about the rental income you've been receiving before.

. ;-)Therefore, my question to the members here is...Would you be willing to have your anonymous data aggregated with data from other investors to gain the benefits of big data?

- Anonymous

Though I do believe you owe that agent no commission, and he probably would agree except for wanting the money from you, consider approaching it this way, since you are just starting out and as Mike said, have your reputation to consider, talk to the agent-in fact, maybe make a couple of anonymous calls to a few local brokers to find out the local thinking on this, keeping all names out, and if they ask if it's one of their agents say no.Then maybe talk to the agent and let him know a) either you owe him the commission and will tell the bank you're working with an agentb) you don't owe him the commission, but since you've been working together you want to give him a little anyway, and YOU determine if it's the entire amount of the commission or what part of it--50%?

Evon, In a nutshell a land trust is a grantor trust that can provide anonymity and be used to reposition property.

Finally, with the use of Trusts while establishing these structures you can add a level of anonymity by removing your name from public record.When you ask that question it would probably be best to sit down with an experienced attorney and have them walk you through your personal exposure.

Not looking for 100% anonymity per se just nothing would be in plain sight from a quick search.Does anyone have an opinion on the LLC tax situation?

@Chris Ruggiero The land trust is not giving you any asset protection (nor any liability protection), just a layer of anonymity.