Good insurance, particularly with an umbrella liability policy provides very adequate protection on smaller assets. 

But if the lease terms are murky, if renewal conditions aren’t guarenteed, or if the airport authority could dramatically shift the deal down the line, then you should be asking for a discount..or at least some protective clauses in the contract.I’m curious... if you were to step into this kind of leasehold now, how do you think you’d explain the upside to your future buyers or partners when you eventually decide to exit?

But any improvements are at your risk.. the redeeming party just owes you your cash plus in our state 9% and any VERIFIABLE expenses you paid to protect the asset.

There is no 100% guarantee out there.Managing your property properly and having great insurance are probably the two best ways to protect yourself.

So you could form a partnership but it would not be allowed to purchase the property, so you will not be fully protected legallyThanks for clarifying that they're not a first time buyer program, I am not sure why I had that confused.

If you’d been holding around $620K from a 2019 sale and directed it toward a few properties like that.. especially if you leveraged financing.. you might’ve grown your portfolio’s total value well beyond what many Los Angeles holdings would have delivered over the same period.Then again, L.A. still has that unique mix of robust demand and limited supply.. from what I’ve heard, you can see impressive long-term gains there if you’re comfortble navigating tenant protections.

If it is returned in full, the pref equity will receive their accrued pref before common equity receives their accrued pref + share of profits.So, common equity has "unlimited" upside but really no downside protection.

That's a way to get both anonymity and liability protection.

But it's difficult for me to just hand over money to someone I've never met, when I have so many friends (and have read so many stories here) who have been ripped off by contractors.How can I protect myself?

Pay special attention to #4 and #5.An LLC is useful for two things: anonymity and legal protection.