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Real Estate Investing can be dangerous to your personal financial wealth!

As real estate investors we all start off with the best of intentions. We go out into our local real estate markets and look for deals. We contact  potential capital investors and spend hours generating interest in  having them fund local real estate deals.  Finally we get that perfect deal, and it all starts to come together. Time starts to move on your investment  and  the strategy that you wanted to execute on the asset falls apart, or the tenant in your property falls and out comes the dark side of real estate investing:

Lawsuits.

Lawsuits are the dark side of real estate. Lawsuits are real and can take a bite out of you financially and emotionally. Emotionally lawsuits are a rollercoaster and strain personal relationships especially if you are working with friends or family on real estate deals. Financially you need to choose a special purpose investment vehicle that protects you and your capital partners when investments go bad.

What is a Special Purpose Investment Vehicle (SPIV)?

A special purpose investment vehicle/entity is a legal entity created to fulfill narrow, specific or temporary objectives. The typical SPV can either be a Corporation, Sub Chapter S-Corporation, Limited Liability Corporation, or a Limited Partnership.

Four Types of SPIV 

SPV STRUCTURE DEFINITION	KEY BENEFITS	KEY DRAWBACK	Valid for Real Estate Ownership?
C-CorporationThe most basic type of limited liability structure and the longest standing investment vehicle.	Liability is limited for operating team and shareholders to the capital committed associated with their share value. Shares can be freely traded among an unlimited number of ownersMost tax-efficient vehicle for taking a company public.	Taxes are paid both at the entity level and at the personal level for distributions provided to shareholders and operating partners.	Not in my opinion.The double taxation is what kills it from a real estate perspective unless you can qualify as a REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust)
Limited Partnership (LP)Limited partnerships have both general partners and limited partners. The limited partners in the relationship are usually investors who do not have the same day-to-day responsibilities as the general partners	Limited Partner liability for the partnership’s debt is limited to the amount of money or property that individual partner contributed to the partnershipLP memerbship units  are freely transferrable: limited partners can be replaced without dissolving the limited partnersh LP is a pass-through entity meaning the profit, losses, credits and deductions flow through to the LP and GP members without entity level taxation.	Limited partners lose all of their limited liability if they participate in any management functions within the company.LP can have no real say in the business which can be a negative drawback when it comes to finding investors.	Not in my opinion.The loss of limited liability feature and the capital investors not having any say in the investment decision can limit your capital investors ability to make appropriate decisions for their portfolio.
S-CorporationS-Corporation is basically a C-Corporation corporation that is not subject to double taxation.	Liability is limited for operating team and shareholders to the capital committed associated with their share value.Shares can be freely traded among an unlimited number of ownersIncome flows through to the individual shareholders and federal tax is paid only at the owner level	Ownership is limited to no more than 100 US shareholders with one class of stock.	This is a good structure for the joint ownership of real estate asset given that you can raise capital efficiently and keep the limited liability feature.
Limited Liability CorporationLLC structure essentially melds a partnership with the limited liability protection offered by a corporation.	LLC a pass-through entity meaning the profit, losses, credits and deductions flow through to the LP and GP members without entity level taxationIncome and benefits can be distributed unequally among membersMembers can use losses and income to offset income and losses from other passive investment activities subject to the passive tax loss rules. Members liability is limited to the amount of money or property that individual partner contributed to the LLC.		This is an optimal structure for joint real estate asset ownership in my opinion given that you can raise third party capital and divide up ownership benefits in a personalized manner to each capital investor.

The table above is meant to serve as a reference tool for real estate investors considering which investment vehicle that they want to use for owning their next real estate asset. The investment vehicle choice should be made balancing the following objectives:

1. Liability Protection for yourself and your capital partners
2. Capital Raising capability at the time of acquisition and the future
3. Taxation Implications for yourself and your capital partners

Utilize this table, your lawyer, and your accountant team members to choose the right investment vehicle.

Happy Investing!
Photo: Photo Extremist

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.