The IRS treats a land contract as a sale.

Treat every single person the same, always and forever!

But then, I treat labor differently...Speaking of labor - if you're planning for one sole guy, and maybe his helper, come in and do this job...

Especially since the LLC (and its assets) will most likely be included in the property settlement, don't treat this as a do it yourself project.

Asset protection at your stage of investing might be better served with any homestead exemption allowed in your state as a personal residence.Another issue is that your duplex will be treated as an investment to extent of the business purpose, you will not be able to depreciate that part of the asset used for your personal use and common elements will need to be proportionate to use..

Group LLC, Deleware or Wyoming based which is held by an Australian Discretionary trust - This will be treated as a corporation for US taxation and as a consequence the LLC will be treated as a corporation.Subordinate LLC's - state based which will be the entities that own the properties.Money sourced from LOC in Australia at an interest cost of about 8%.The issuesThe properties should all be massively cashflow positive at a gross 20+% returns.

Like I said, it sounds like a SS...she didn't say anything that explained that fact away.I even asked if the seller owes the bank more than what the home is being sold for and her answer was yes.Perhaps there's a more specific question I can ask.But I'm wondering if I should simply treat this as a short sale and make an offer like I would any other SS, or should I be leary of things going awry?

Many landlords loose grasp of the business angle of this and treat their rentals as a play thing.

A knowledgeable investor has to treat this like any other rental.

Basically, treat your company like a separate entity and so will the courts.Now, I would like to hear more from this attorney who says he can "pierce the corporate veil" by simply filing a few papers.