Should I put the property in my name or form an LLC

[spdrun]

Nope, just have multiple offers sitting in the short-sale bank-approval stage at this point. Eventually, one or two will go through — they’re all good properties, but I’m not in a giant hurry to buy. I already have a roof over my head and no plans for kids in the next year or two, so there’s every reason to relax and enjoy the ride.

[sdduuuude]

[quote=SK in CV][quote=sdduuuude]Another reason to put the house in a corp is to shelter from property tax increases.

If you sell the company, which owns the house, it does not trigger a sale event on the house, so the property tax basis stays the same.[/quote]

By law, that’s not accurate. If more than 50% of corporate stock or ownership in an LLC is transferred (in a single year or cumulatively since 1975), and the corporation owns real estate in CA, that transfer must be disclosed and the property is re-assessed. As a practical matter, I don’t now how the state enforces this for foreign corporations, but for CA entities, it’s right on the tax return:

J 1. For this taxable year, was there a change in control
or majority ownership for this corporation or any of
its subsidiaries that owned or (under certain
circumstances) leased real property in California? . . . . .   Yes  No
2. For this taxable year, did this corporation or any of its
subsidiaries acquire control or majority ownership of
any other legal entity that owned or (under certain
circumstances) leased real property in California? . . . . .   Yes  No
3. If this corporation or any of its subsidiaries owned or
(under certain circumstances) leased real property in
California, has more than 50% of the voting stock of any
one of them cumulatively transferred in one or more
transactions since March 1, 1975, which was not
reported on a previous year’s tax return? . . . . . .  Yes  No

[/quote]

Interesting. I thought I caught wind of some big campaign going on to make it so that you couldn’t use a corporation to pull this trick. Maybe it is not legal, but still done ?

[earlyretirement]

[quote=spdrun]Nope, just have multiple offers sitting in the short-sale bank-approval stage at this point. Eventually, one or two will go through — they’re all good properties, but I’m not in a giant hurry to buy. I already have a roof over my head and no plans for kids in the next year or two, so there’s every reason to relax and enjoy the ride.[/quote]

Ah. Good for you. Just from reading your posts it sounds like you do quite a bit of due diligence and have various areas scoped out well for areas that will produce a solid ROI. Your goals and situation are different vs. mine but definitely I can see what your goal and strategy is.

You don’t sound greedy, and it looks like you’re going into it for all the right reasons (cash flow) vs. potential capital appreciation potential or trying to flip it.

I personally think real estate investments by nature are best as long-term investments that potentially are owned for very long periods of time to forever (passed on to family members).

The time to do these kinds of things is when you’re young, single and have no obligations or big responsibilities. Because let me tell you, once you have kids and get married your responsibilities/obligations and risk level DRASTICALLY diminish. LOL.

I NEVER would have taken the time/hassles I’m quite sure if I tried to start after I was married and started having kids. Kids take a LOT of time, and money.

Like you, I started out when I was fairly young picking up properties. Never in any hurry at all but when you find good deals you move on them. Like you, I look for properties with good cash flow. However, rather than more affordable or more “blue collar” areas, I tend to prefer to buy in the best and most affluent areas as I’ve found there is always rental demand in those areas. No matter what the economy seems to be there will always be wealthy people out there looking to live.

Keep it up. My real estate investments were some of the greatest investments I ever made and now I’m to the point where the cash flow on all of them really makes it much easier for me to do what I want to do and work less in my regular job.

I do agree that being a landlord is NOT for everyone. In fact, it’s not for the majority of the people out there. LOTS of potential headaches. But if you know what you’re doing you can do very well.

Congrats spdrun. It sounds like you have a lot of patience as well. I never had the time or patience to deal with short-sales, etc. But it sounds like those that know what they are doing in that realm are cleaning house.

[Author]

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