[quote=SK in CV]First, a corporation formed in a different state must register with the state of CA before doing business here. I suspect, though I’m not positive, that purchasing real property would qualify as “doing business”. A foreign corporation has to file similar documents with the secretary of state as domestic corps, identifying officers and an agent for service of process.

Second, who’s going to buy the corporation (an out of state corp at that) and assume potential liablities of that corporation, the tax and legal headaches that would go along with maintaining the corporation and even bigger headaches of liquidating it. And legally, that transfer would have to be reported to the county assessor by the beginning of May following the sale if not sooner.[/quote]

Foreign corporations do have to register, but only if they are conducting business. owning a residence is not “doing business” in CA. In fact, many states provide that as an exception to what constitutes doing business. And most states require some documentation reporting who the directors or officers of a corporation (or members/managers for an LLC) are. These records are not always available via the internet, but can be obtained (for a small fee) by the public by requesting the records from the Secretary of State or some equivalent agency.

Buying the corporation (foreign or domestic) is not that big a deal if the only asset is the real property. But a better way might be to just have the entity sell the real property to the buyer, then dissolve the entity.