Any advice on how to buy a house through an LLC? Just want to do it for privacy reasons. Don't have any LLC currently set up.
Buying a house as an LLC
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Wrong forum? Look in the Bigger Pockets forum.
But here's my advice regardless. You can do a traditional LLC where you have one or multiple properties in one LLC either as an umbrella or not. This is what most RE investors do but it can be more complex to set up and manage and more expensive. The second option is to do a series LLC where you have one parent or master LLC with numerous child series to hold your assets. You can have a trust manage the series LLC (most people I know use Delaware Statutory Trust) and then have a different LLC for each property under that (you can choose whatever state for LLC, doesn't have to be the one where you live or own property), where other assets can be managed with that LLC like a land trust.
The easiest way to set one up is to go through an asset protection company. You can DIY all the portions of it to make it cheaper but this requires more time and managing multiple vendors, and can lead to greater risk if you don't set it up correctly.
You need to have a rental property first before doing any of the above. You can reach out to vendors to start the discussion but it'll be premature. Once you own a rental property, you would set up the LLC then quitclaim or warranty deed property into the property owning LLC.
But here's my advice regardless. You can do a traditional LLC where you have one or multiple properties in one LLC either as an umbrella or not. This is what most RE investors do but it can be more complex to set up and manage and more expensive. The second option is to do a series LLC where you have one parent or master LLC with numerous child series to hold your assets. You can have a trust manage the series LLC (most people I know use Delaware Statutory Trust) and then have a different LLC for each property under that (you can choose whatever state for LLC, doesn't have to be the one where you live or own property), where other assets can be managed with that LLC like a land trust.
The easiest way to set one up is to go through an asset protection company. You can DIY all the portions of it to make it cheaper but this requires more time and managing multiple vendors, and can lead to greater risk if you don't set it up correctly.
You need to have a rental property first before doing any of the above. You can reach out to vendors to start the discussion but it'll be premature. Once you own a rental property, you would set up the LLC then quitclaim or warranty deed property into the property owning LLC.
I honestly have no interest in using it as an investment property or rental property. I just want to use it for privacy so patients can't find my home address.
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Yeah, I think the poster gets that, but there is an issue with trying to create a business that doesn't actually do any business, and then trying to have it own stuff. An LLC is a legal entity that has to meet certain standards or else not have legal standing to even exist. It's not just like a name you stick on something, certainly not something as valuable as a house.
If you don't set up a property deed, trust, or LLC correctly, you could end up in the awful situation of not actually controlling your property, at least not without attorneys and going through the courts.
Do yourself a favor, and consult with an attorney that can assist with estate planning, real estate law, or business management. Those are the 3 categories of attorney I would search to find someone to help with something like this.
As the poster mentioned, you can DIY a lot of things, but you've already made it clear you don't know much about LLCs. Deeding your primary residence to something you don't understand doesn't sound like a good idea.
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I agree with Crayola that you should consult a lawyer about this rather than trying to get advice on here about it. I don't think that this is the right forum to discuss this as it has little to do with psychiatry.
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I would speak to an attorney about the downsides of doing this. In reality, there is little benefit of this.
In my state, your personal home is immune from being taken in the event of losing a big lawsuit. A LLC investment home is not. There are also tax benefits from having a personal home that are often lost as a LLC.
While a home with LLC would make it 1 step harder to find your personal home, a patient showing up at your home never happens to the majority of physicians. Even disgruntled patients would most likely wait for you outside your office. If they wanted to find your home, they could follow you home or pay someone to follow you home.
Voter registration can also result in your data becoming public. Will you give up your right to vote?
Vehicle registrations can also result in your data becoming public. Will you purchase vehicles in LLC’s and pay for more expensive liability insurance due to needing company policies?
Definitely don’t end up in court. Many court records including divorce decrees are public record and list your address - LLC or not.
In my state, your personal home is immune from being taken in the event of losing a big lawsuit. A LLC investment home is not. There are also tax benefits from having a personal home that are often lost as a LLC.
While a home with LLC would make it 1 step harder to find your personal home, a patient showing up at your home never happens to the majority of physicians. Even disgruntled patients would most likely wait for you outside your office. If they wanted to find your home, they could follow you home or pay someone to follow you home.
Voter registration can also result in your data becoming public. Will you give up your right to vote?
Vehicle registrations can also result in your data becoming public. Will you purchase vehicles in LLC’s and pay for more expensive liability insurance due to needing company policies?
Definitely don’t end up in court. Many court records including divorce decrees are public record and list your address - LLC or not.
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One structure you can use *might* be a type of estate trust, but I believe to be taxed at your current rate it would have to be an irrevocable trust, and that requires a good deal of thought and planning. Presumably you can pick the name. However this again is getting kind of complicated. The last time I had basic tune up done by an attorney to an already established trust, it cost me $2000. You can have basic ones set up for about $3000 or more. However, then you really need an accountant to walk you through all the tax implications, possibly a financial planner as well. And there is generally ongoing costs as I mentioned, in maintaining any legal entity.
It only really makes sense to me to use such a vehicle if you actually want one for estate planning and it will serve that purpose.
I think this is a decent topic for the psych forum, mainly because I think physicians, but particularly psychiatrists, do worry about disgruntled possibly violent possibly mentally ill folks showing up to their house. And so I think it has been beneficial for various docs to throw their 2 cents in. That's not me disgreeing with the above poster's view on the matter, just saying again, it's helpful to get these perspectives imho.
It helps when you see an attorney (or any professional advice giver, take physicians for instance) to already have some questions and an idea of what you want to achieve, again, this is where consulting the interwebs can be *useful* but does NOT take the place of expert experience.
It only really makes sense to me to use such a vehicle if you actually want one for estate planning and it will serve that purpose.
I think this is a decent topic for the psych forum, mainly because I think physicians, but particularly psychiatrists, do worry about disgruntled possibly violent possibly mentally ill folks showing up to their house. And so I think it has been beneficial for various docs to throw their 2 cents in. That's not me disgreeing with the above poster's view on the matter, just saying again, it's helpful to get these perspectives imho.
It helps when you see an attorney (or any professional advice giver, take physicians for instance) to already have some questions and an idea of what you want to achieve, again, this is where consulting the interwebs can be *useful* but does NOT take the place of expert experience.
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In this vein, like I live in a property crime ridden area, and guns are a real threat. This is the risk I deal with outside of any professional capacity.
Also, for whatever reason, I also find the existence of criminals such as the recently sentenced Golden State Killer, to make me especially wary.
It makes more sense to me, rather than trying to obscure your address, to see to home security.
There are reasonable and inexpensive (compared to some of the legal entities we discussed) ways to deter crime involving your home. Granted, deterrents may be less effective on people who are not acting rationally with respect to crime.
I have a security system that is 24/7 monitoring that can contact the local police, multiple cameras, motion detectors, and glass breaking AND door/window contact alarms (to catch break ins AND "sneak ins"). Coupled with security system signs and stickers throughout. And a locked gate and electric fence.
This doesn't make it impossible for someone to pull some bull****, but it also doesn't make it easy to sneak into my home or prowl around outside.
As physicians we should know, there is no such thing as zero risk, but also, all anyone can do is just the best they can to prevent certain outcomes.
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I agree that there are so many ways for people to look up our address if they're so committed. Having my mortgage in my name is one of my lowest concerns. Some professional organizations, charitable organizations, etc will list your name, address, cell, etc. Not to mention your spouse's name might be a way for people to track you. Just the reality of living in a digital world...
Still, it's hard enough for many patients to find our name online to leave us feedback. The number that would be saavy enough to find our address is low.
I've only heard of people being followed/stalked at their place of work. And while it does sound terrifying, more people die from shark attacks and yet more from coconuts falling on their head then the number of physicians that get stalked by a patient.
If privacy is truly that big a concern, then you need a lawyer for a comprehensive review of how to preserve your privacy, not just with your home purchase. It's certainly possible--many of the uber wealthy conceal their ownership in things/preserve a small semblence of their privacy this way.
Just keep in mind efforts to preserve privacy/fancy asset protection strategies more often backfire, as it makes it more difficult to access/claim tax benefits, access your money, and most importantly, make it really hard for loves ones to access funds/property should you pass. The uber wealthy don't need to worry as much about that since they have dedicated estate lawyers.
Keeping things as simple as possible is my personal mantra.
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You could have it owned by a revocable trust and achieve a similar result.
Seems overkill though. Do you have a large anti-doctor, serial killer population on your panel?
Seems overkill though. Do you have a large anti-doctor, serial killer population on your panel?
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They originally posted in the psychiatry subforum and it got moved here. They don't have to be anti-doctor or serial killer to be violent or to stalk them.
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If your patient wanted to kill you why would they go to your home? Why not just wait in the parking lot after work? Or just shoot up the clinic. That seems to be the route that is typically taken.
Phillips performed back surgery on the gunman last month and was the primary target of the shooting.
Here's one killed by her fiance. He went to work too. Easier to find the doctor there.
It's not just the patients either.
A woman who worked with a prominent cardiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital fatally shot the doctor and then killed herself yesterday in his office near the hospital’s main lobby
Was Beloved Doc Devon Hoover Really Killed by Someone He Knew?
Ten weeks after Hoover was found wrapped in a sheet and wearing nothing but a sock, those closest to him are starting to fear the police may have got a key detail wrong.
www.thedailybeast.com
This one was killed at home, presumably by someone he knew. I guess that could have been a patient.
How about this:
When Physicians Go Bad: Doctors Who Killed Their Patients
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Maybe the patients shouldn't give us their addresses.
At any rate, it feels like it probably only provides a false sense of security to me.
