South Jersey Real Estate Investors Association

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Why Use a Land Trust?

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Why Use a Land Trust?

By Mr. Land Trust®, Randy Hughes

 

Do you remember 1969? Probably not. You may have been born after 1969 and did not find real estate as an investment until many years later. I remember the year 1969 very well. It was the year in which I purchased my first rental house. I was still in college and realized that I needed to break the cycle of poverty in my family.

First, I decided to get more education than anyone else in my family. So, I went to college and majored in business. While studying in college, I realized that most people in America who became wealthy did it through investment real estate. My initial interest was in apartment buildings, but since they took large amounts of down payment money (the “nothing down” concept had not been invented yet) I defaulted to the single family home as my IDEAL investment vehicle.

By the time I graduated from college I had acquired three rental houses and one small office building. After graduation I continued acquiring rental houses and titling them in my name personally. One sunny morning I woke up and realized the potential risk I was creating by owning all these properties in my own name. These were the days before you could access the county recorder’s office online. But, you could go down to the court house and walk into the recorder’s office to look up each owner of every property in town. Wow, was I stupid!

I began to research different ways of holding title to real ... Read More…


Land Trusts vs. Limited Liability Companies

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Land Trusts vs. Limited Liability Companies

By: Mr. Land Trust®, Randy Hughes

 

Recently I read an article by an attorney telling his readers not to use a Land Trust. He recommended titling your investment property in a Limited Liability Company. His reasoning was that Land Trusts are only a “deterrent” to a lawsuit and they do not provide “true” asset protection. The attorney went on explaining how any lawyer “worth his salt” would find out you are the beneficiary of a Land Trust as the result of a judgment debtor’s exam (which is a hearing in a court room . . . sometimes called a Citation to Discover Assets). The attorney writing this article concluded that you have “zero” privacy with a Land Trust and if you want privacy you should “save the expense” of a Land Trust and title your investment real estate directly into an LLC (Nevada or Delaware).

After more than 40 years of in the real estate investment business, I can spot an attorney who understands the law but does not have practical real world experience. I agree that LLC’s have better asset protection than a Land Trust, but Land Trusts have far better privacy elements than LLC’s. I use LLC’s in my business but NOT to hold title to investment property.

Let’s review the benefits of using a Land Trust.

Land Trusts:

  1. Are NOT registered anywhere on the planet
  2. Do not require a registered agent
  3. Pay no franchise taxes
  4. ... Read More…