Protect hide your other stuff. 

(It would be unwise to hide this fact and having the same last name makes it obvious).

This is an "objective" test as to sham transactions, there must be a business purpose "subjective" test, a reason the LLC was formed, that might be to better market a property through advertising, other than some tax benefit or attempt to hide out or to engage in "self dealing" as the owner.

in my area @Mike M. when i do a rehab we just plan on running new wire to recept. boxes and pull permit to this because it looks good when you go to sell house more and more buyers are looking to see if you pull permits last rehab we sold the buyer told me he was willing to pay more since he saw we pulled permits as far as water heater i would not worry about hiding it with a curtain rod it would not cause you a code problem in my area 

(you have made the seller say they want to move fast several times, this builds urgency) ````````````````````````````````````````````note: to all you professional salespeople out there this might be very difficult to do, it sounds like you're not being very attentive and you not listening very carefully, but if you use this technique to draw the seller out, and get the truth from them, especially finding out the real urgency, you have much more success, because many people in a negotiation will "hide their cards" and not tell you the truth.In further postings I'll go through how to "knock out other choices" like listing it with another real estate agent or property manager or FSBO.

They may be suspicious of you and why you want information, or just lazy, or they could be hiding something.  

My thought is if you don't want to provide an application than I will move on to someone not trying to hide themselves.   

Sometimes you will see evidence of people trying to paint or skim coat over the wall to hide it but the skim coat or paint won't stick. 

@Ron Feinsod First, are you hiding the fact that you are wholesaling to the end buyer?  

@David Beard I'm glad you brought up that I work for a HML, I certainly am not trying to hide it.