Advice on Finance setup for first rental property Duplex

[Josh Trup]

Hello all,

In the middle of acquiring my first rental duplex in Ohio as an OOS investor. I have two major questions.

1. Should I open an LLC for it?
2. Should I open a new checking and savings for it? (mostly what ive read online says to do this)

- Should I put the checking and saving under the LLC? (can i open the accounts now and then put them under the LLC later? )

- I'm wanting to open a HYSA for holding the two deposits and then a checking account for the house as a whole for repairs and income collection etc... Im looking at the current highest percentage HYSA's which are Upgrade, Bask, wealthfront and Everbank. Unfortunately I don't think I can get checking accounts with these companies. Does anyone know of one that will do a HYSA of 4.5% + and can do checking accounts? That would be the ideal software but don't think it exists.

Thinking in the future if I wanted to scale and buy more properties I'd like to have the ability to open more accounts for each property.

Any input appreciated on the best way to set this up!

[Stephanie P.]

Quote from @Josh Trup:

Hello all,

In the middle of acquiring my first rental duplex in Ohio as an OOS investor. I have two major questions.

1. Should I open an LLC for it?
2. Should I open a new checking and savings for it? (mostly what ive read online says to do this)

- Should I put the checking and saving under the LLC? (can i open the accounts now and then put them under the LLC later? )

- I'm wanting to open a HYSA for holding the two deposits and then a checking account for the house as a whole for repairs and income collection etc... Im looking at the current highest percentage HYSA's which are Upgrade, Bask, wealthfront and Everbank. Unfortunately I don't think I can get checking accounts with these companies. Does anyone know of one that will do a HYSA of 4.5% + and can do checking accounts? That would be the ideal software but don't think it exists.

Thinking in the future if I wanted to scale and buy more properties I'd like to have the ability to open more accounts for each property.

Any input appreciated on the best way to set this up!

Lots of discussions on BP about this; to LLC or not.

I'm in the "not" camp.  No need for it to get a loan.  Just get an umbrella policy to defer liability if that's your main concern.  

You may be able to get a HYSA through American Express Business Checking if you go the LLC route.