Property Manager · New York, NY · Member since 2016 · 388 posts · 90 votes
I read regarding Randy Hughes, Mr. Land Trust a lot in here, altho I am not sure i anyone actually work with him.
anyway I decided today to go ahead and buy his course online. Thinking i will be able to watch some simple video and how to create the trust on my own.
but I got whole bunch of PDF file and a lot form, feeling like I spend $420 on a book where I don't know where to started.
so I called randy and he told me to read whole thing and after couple days if I still have question call him back.
Not what I expected. can someone recomend to me a good land trust attorney who can guide me through the whole thing and help me to create a trust? instead ask me to read a book. and I just Pay $420 for a book. But I don't think I have time to read entire book, to create a land trust.
is my expection too high or is something goes wrong here?
Investor · Mableton, GA · Member since 2013 · 78 posts · 43 votes
8y
A land trust can be very helpful. When you learn this you won't need an attorney. You may need an attorney to look over your paperwork for your state to make sure it is compliant..but you can put a property in a trust without an attorney. There are many twists and turns in regards to understanding a trust and it's function. It is important to get this aspect under your belt. It helps with anonymity of who owns the property, and asset protection. I use trusts also for properties I take subject to.
It is important to get detailed information and follow up with it. The first one is the scariest to do. One ( I have taken a few..it is that important and that detailed) of the land trust classes I attended the pages were already filled out on the samples and then I had the document in word doc file which is what I used to replicate each one. Get a good land trust class under your belt. It is too much information to do it on your own. You really need a class and then you need the documents that you fill out when you are ready to take over a property and put in a trust.
You don't get penalized by IRS on how you hold title..You get tax credits based on income in and out of a property. A savvy bookkeeper and CPA are worth their weight in gold.
Rental Property Investor · Santa Clarita, CA · Member since 2014 · 38 posts · 3 votes
8y
@Lauren Walling - Was drafting it difficult? Can you elaborate on your experience a bit more. I'd like to see what the main takeaway from Randy's course is, and I assume it is 2 things: 1) the content needed to go into the trust, and 2) being able to list/identify and articulate the content to be added into the trust?
Rental Property Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2008 · 53 posts · 25 votes
7y
Let me clear the air as Liz is giving a very biased and one-sided story here. First, Liz purchased my Land Trusts Made Simple home study course as a Download. I offer a money-back guaranty on all non-download products i sell. Why? Because you cannot return a download. If I did offer a money-back guaranty on downloads, i would be ripped off on a daily basis. People would buy my course, download the course guide AND forms...then ask for a refund. No one on the planet is stupid enough to refund a download purchase.
Secondly, Liz said she just "got a few forms"....What she actually received was my 96 page course guides (with my 40+ years of land trust knowledge) and 20+ forms...all the forms she would need to create land trusts for the rest of her life! This product is Nationally known, Nationally recognized and appreciated by thousands of my students.
If Liz would take the time to read the course guide and apply the knowledge she would know how to create a land trust. I feel she just wants a short-cut for free. The 20.00 books online and in the book stores do NOT teach you how to do this nor do they give you 40+ years of experience!
I personally answer my phone everyday of the week from my students WHO READ MY COURSE GUIDE FIRST. If i had to do it for Liz i would have charged much more.
Let me clear the air as Liz is giving a very biased and one-sided story here. First, Liz purchased my Land Trusts Made Simple home study course as a Download. I offer a money-back guaranty on all non-download products i sell. Why? Because you cannot return a download. If I did offer a money-back guaranty on downloads, i would be ripped off on a daily basis. People would buy my course, download the course guide AND forms...then ask for a refund. No one on the planet is stupid enough to refund a download purchase.
Secondly, Liz said she just "got a few forms"....What she actually received was my 96 page course guides (with my 40+ years of land trust knowledge) and 20+ forms...all the forms she would need to create land trusts for the rest of her life! This product is Nationally known, Nationally recognized and appreciated by thousands of my students.
If Liz would take the time to read the course guide and apply the knowledge she would know how to create a land trust. I feel she just wants a short-cut for free. The 20.00 books online and in the book stores do NOT teach you how to do this nor do they give you 40+ years of experience!
I personally answer my phone everyday of the week from my students WHO READ MY COURSE GUIDE FIRST. If i had to do it for Liz i would have charged much more.
Lets move on,
"All progress takes place outside the comfort zone."
Rental Property Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2008 · 53 posts · 25 votes
7y
Let me clear the air as Liz is giving a very biased and one-sided story here. First, Liz purchased my Land Trusts Made Simple Basic home study course as a Download. I offer a money-back guaranty on all non-download products i sell. Why not offer it on Downloads? Because you cannot return a download. If I did offer a money-back guaranty on downloads, i would be ripped off on a daily basis. People would buy my course, download the course guide AND forms...then ask for a refund. No one on the planet is stupid enough to refund a download purchase.
Secondly, Liz said she just "got a few forms"....What she actually received was my 96 page course guides (with my 40+ years of land trust knowledge) and 20+ forms...all the forms she would need to create land trusts for the rest of her life! My Land Trust Agreement form alone is 96 pages long! This product is Nationally known, Nationally recognized and appreciated by thousands of my students.
If Liz would have taken the time to read the course guide and apply the knowledge she would know how to create a land trust. I feel she just wanted a short-cut for $20.00. The $20.00 books online and in the book stores do NOT teach you how to do this nor do they give you 40+ years of experience or a 96 page Trust Agreement!
I personally answer my phone everyday of the week from my students and give excellent service to them. All I ask of them is to READ THE COURSE GUIDE before calling me. Seems reasonable.
Let's move on and make some money....and learn how to protect it!
Has anyone have trouble dealing with their local county when it comes to the Deed in Turst part.? My current deed is typical because I bought my house thru a mortgage and put it under my name (have 29 more years left in the 30years mortgage) so now I’m scare that they won’t let me record the deed of trust for this property.
Investor · Baltimore, MD · Member since 2008 · 17k+ posts · 13k+ votes
7y
@Liz C. first I am on this site a LOT, I have never seen him mentioned that I recall.
The fact he is promoting Land trusts alone should be enough to know to stay away from him.
Land trusts are grossly overused and often misused in the investment field. While there are appropriate times to use them, often they are promoted for benefits that can be quite elusive.
Santa Barbara, CA · Member since 2015 · 75 posts · 17 votes
7y
Judging from her comments, it appears that her English may genuinely be insufficient to understand whatever she received from Mr. Hughes. Since Mr. Hughes does not dispute that she paid hundreds of dollars for the information, perhaps he should go ahead and send her the information in DVD form. It's the same information, right?
Rental Property Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2008 · 53 posts · 25 votes
7y
Ned, I have been using land trusts in my real estate business since before you were born. You really should not criticize what you don't understand nor have extensive experience with. Land Trusts are an integral part of a real estate investors privacy and asset protection program. No, they do not solve all problems, but no entity does. And, yes i use LLC's in my business, but not to hold the title. It just creates a nexus for a lawsuit. Please study up on the many benefits of using a land trusts and then post your comments here.
Investor · Baltimore, MD · Member since 2008 · 17k+ posts · 13k+ votes
7y
@Randy H. what makes you think I do not understand land trusts. I probably don't know them as well as you but I have seen much misinformation spread about land trusts.
First they are a revocable trust, they are often used in situations where if the grantor were to revoke the trust you as beneficiary would be screwed.
Also rarely mentioned, is there are no provisions for them in many states. Every attorney I have spoken with says there is no legal basis for land trust in MD.
Although few promoting them actually say this directly, most imply there is some liability protection from a land trust. As you know, this is not true.
If you teach about land trust in an ethical manner and provide good information, then if I have offended you, I apologize.
Rental Property Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2008 · 53 posts · 25 votes
7y
Ned, thank you for your response. I will copy your response below and answer point-by-point:
First they are a revocable trust, they are often used in situations where if the grantor were to revoke the trust you as beneficiary would be screwed. ****I teach real estate investors to create their own land trusts...which means they ARE the Grantor and Beneficiary (or their LLC or corp. is the beneficiary). This prevents someone else as Grantor revoking the trust.
Also rarely mentioned, is there are no provisions for them in many states. Every attorney I have spoken with says there is no legal basis for land trust in MD.**** Most attorneys do not learn about land trusts in law school, therefore they are negative towards them. Here is what i know about Land Trusts in MD: There are no specific Land Trust Statutes in Maryland. However, Land Trusts will work in Maryland similar to the way they work in Virginia and Illinois (for the most part) when deeds and trust agreements are drafted with Illinois “type” land trust language.Real Property Law § 2-116 requires that the trustee have some express power of management or disposition. Furthermore, since there is no Federal land trust law (it is all state-by-state) a MD property could be placed into an out-of-state trust where there IS specific Land Trust Statute. These are the types of techniques I teach my students.
Although few promoting them actually say this directly, most imply there is some liability protection from a land trust. As you know, this is not true. ****Actually, the liability from the property held inside the trust flows thru to the beneficiary. This is why I tell R.E. investors to make the beneficiary of their trusts...an LLC or Corp. These land trusts are more for privacy of ownership, but that in itself is an asset protection benefit....not to be listed in the public records which makes you to a bigger target for a frivolous lawsuit.
Rental Property Investor · Frederick, MD · Member since 2016 · 30 posts · 14 votes
7y
@Randy H. You seem to be dangerously close with the unethical practice of law. Are you an attorney licensed to practice law in Maryland or in any of the other jurisdictions you claim this process can seamlessly work in? People seem to be relying on you for legal advice.
Rental Property Investor · Frederick, MD · Member since 2016 · 30 posts · 14 votes
7y
@Ned Carey “Also rarely mentioned, is there are no provisions for them in many states. Every attorney I have spoken with says there is no legal basis for land trust in MD.”
I haven’t looked into this extensively, but I arrived at the same conclusion when I researched this for a friend.
Rental Property Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2015 · 14 posts · 9 votes
7y
Yikes! All of this dialogue stemmed from a young lady failing to read the No Refund Policy on a downloaded course. This was 2 years ago, I hope she was able to write it off on her taxes by now. WAIT! I shouldn't have said that, because someone is going to tell me I have to be a CPA to speak about such things.
@Randy H I think your information is great, and it is definitely worth learning as an investor. It puzzles me how lawyers and others think one has to be a lawyer to understand this stuff. Im not a plumber, electrician, or carpenter, but being in real estate for many years has provided me with the opportunity to learn these trades and in turn save money on my investment projects. What you don't know will cost you!
CPA delivering RE Tax Tools: 1031 Exchange, SDIRA, 401(k), Cost Seg · New York City, NY · Member since 2017 · 581 posts · 563 votes
7y
@Ned Carey @Account ClosedThanks for taking this on. I do think BP needs a centralized place where honest information is given on these subjects, along with open dialogue.
Rental Property Investor · Cleveland, OH · Member since 2015 · 97 posts · 21 votes
7y
I bought Randy's course and I'm absolutely satisfied with his teachings and his customer service. After two years I still email questions to Randy and he responds to me within 12 hours. Impressive! As an investor I strongly recommend his course.
Vero Beach, FL · Member since 2016 · 53 posts · 32 votes
7y
Sounds like this guy is like Noll and his LLC Mastermind Machine. You can tell that they know their stuff, but are leaving out certain information that someone new to the field (virtually every one of their customers), would need to know to correctly understand the information in the course. You know there's something wrong, but can't put your finger on it because you don't know anywhere near enough to be able to identify the missing information. They would sell so many more courses if they provided the needed information in the first place. Just sad that they know the problem, but won't take the time to do it right.
Real Estate Professional · Edinburg, TX · Member since 2017 · 16 posts · 19 votes
7y
Randy Hughes has the best Land Trust education out there. Can't believe anyone is saying it's shady. Just the book itself is enough to teach you how to create them---it's literally a couple of lines to fill out. Not sure if those criticizing have even read the material. You can even do assignments with trusts by holding the equitable rights in a personal property trust. The problem is the student, not the teacher.
The web based course is hard to operate. The website is terrible. You can download the videos but it repeats itself, out of order, and missing content. It's really haphazard. Further, he advertises you can create your land trusts for free with the education but the way he recommends doing it costs $720/yr through his referral. Some of the state info is outdated.
That being said, I learned a lot....and I learned a baseline of enough to feel pretty confident I understand land trusts now. I think the course is overpriced and there's lot of emphasis on "extreme outcome" stories and less emphasis of what to actually do in a practical way. I am not the guy that wants 5 entities involved in owning one property...just help me keep it simple
Lastly, I should point out that he doesn't respond to emails. There's zero support even with his buggy website. You have to be really motivated (like I was) to let a video load for many hours to watch 30 minutes. Was the course worth $500 compared to other real estate investing courses---NO. Was the course worth $500 when considering my next best option was to learn from an attorney how to do it--YES.
Investor · Fremont, CA · Member since 2015 · 19 posts · 3 votes
6y
Hi @Randy H. trying to pin down the lawsuit protection angle. In your presentation (which was great btw), you recommend putting each property in a land trust so a lawsuit against one does not put the other assets at risk. But in this thread you wrote that land trusts are not a liability shield and it will indeed flow to a LLC. Grateful if you can please clarify.
Rental Property Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2008 · 53 posts · 25 votes
6y
Hi Paul,
Thanks for your question. You don't avoid direct liability on the property held in the trust…it does flow thru to the beneficiary and that's why most r.e. investors make the beneficiary an LLC or corp. However, you DO avoid attacks from outside the trust property….like my example of the shopping center attack. Make sense?