There are few (if any) benefits to owning investment real estate in your own name. There are many reasons NOT to own investment real estate in your personal name. Here is a real-life case in point.

I control ten condominiums (in one complex) via ten separate Land Trusts. Each property is held in a separate Land Trust with the Beneficiary of each Trust being a Limited Liability Company. All ten units are rented to tenants.

Now and then trouble would arise at this complex and the tenants would start arguing with each other which oftentimes resulted in the police getting involved. Upon further investigation, I found that one of my tenants was always at the center of the trouble. In fact, it appeared that she was the source of all discontent!

When it came time to renew the leases at my complex, I decided not to renew Ms. Troublemaker’s lease. She had rented from me for years and was VERY unhappy that we were “kicking her out.” Of course, she wanted an explanation as to why I was not renewing her lease and I simply told her that the “owner” (the Trustee of the Land Trust) was not happy with her involvement with the other tenants and therefore, her lease would not be renewed.

Well, this explanation was not good enough for Ms. Troublemaker. A few days after my conversation with Ms. T. I received a call from my attorney’s secretary (my attorney was serving as my Trustee). The secretary said there was a lady at their office demanding to speak ... Read More…