Best Form To Own A Commercial Property

Comments(8)

• 
  osemeneb15th December, 2004

  a Land Trust is one way to do it....

• 
  staceydl16th December, 2004

  Thanks for the reply!
  

• 
  DB200017th December, 2004

  An LLC seems best for many reasons. A "land trust" causes many problems, and I don't see the advantages.
  
  A tax accountant can give you most valuable advice. A real property lawyer could also, but if you only hire one, hire a good accountant.
  
  Just get title out of your individual name. There is too much liability potential owning commercial property.

• 
  staceydl17th December, 2004

  Thanks DB2000!
  

• 
  myfrogger17th December, 2004

  A land trust and LLC serve different purposes. My comments here are as a layman and not as an attorney or any other type of professional. You should seek competent professional advise before making any decision.
  
  That said... an LLC is a separate entity that is totally separate from yourself. If something happens in the building, the owner of the building may be sued. Do you want this to be you personally or a shell company that holds only that one property?
  
  However a land trust does not change the true ownership of a property. If a judge asks you personally what you own, you must say that you own it--because you do! A land trust will keep your name out of public record which may prevent frivolous lawsuits because it appears that you don't own anything and therefore pointless to sue you.
  
  Many people advise to transfer the property to a land trust and use the LLC as the beneficiary. This is basically the best of both worlds.
  
  GOOD LUCK

• 
  staceydl18th December, 2004

  Quote:
  On 2004-12-17 13:41, myfrogger wrote:
  A land trust and LLC serve different purposes. My comments here are as a layman and not as an attorney or any other type of professional. You should seek competent professional advise before making any decision.
  
  That said... an LLC is a separate entity that is totally separate from yourself. If something happens in the building, the owner of the building may be sued. Do you want this to be you personally or a shell company that holds only that one property?
  
  However a land trust does not change the true ownership of a property. If a judge asks you personally what you own, you must say that you own it--because you do! A land trust will keep your name out of public record which may prevent frivolous lawsuits because it appears that you don't own anything and therefore pointless to sue you.
  
  Many people advise to transfer the property to a land trust and use the LLC as the beneficiary. This is basically the best of both worlds.
  
  GOOD LUCK
  
  
  I think I like the trust/LLC combo idea. But I will definitely discuss with my attorney and accountant to make a final decision.
  
  Thanks for the advice.
  :-D

• 
  niravmd20th December, 2004

  i'm not an attorney or cpa so seek competent advice.
  
  i'd form a corp and make it the general partner of an LLP.
  use the income from properties to fund a sole-401k and put 41k/yr
  into it.
  make sure the rest of the income trickled down in llc or something where i got depreciation too.
  
  use the 41k in 401k to buy more property.

• 
  staceydl21st December, 2004

  Thanks for the reply niravmd.