Strategy for structuring business to minimize taxes and liability

[John Pierce]

Hi.

Last night at a dinner party I found myself in a conversation with an entrepreneur about taxes, corporate veils, etc. He asked me how my rental properties were structured and was shocked to discover that I personally own my properties with no LLC or corporation as a middleman.

 When I first started investing in rental property I had limited assets, so insulating myself from liability was not high on my list of priorities.   As I acquire more and more assets I become increasingly interested in insulating myself from unnecessary liability. 

I own several rental homes with my father.  These are all owned outright.

I own several more rental homes with my soon to be wife.  Some are mortgaged, some are owned outright.

I was considering starting an LLC with my father and quitclaiming our properties to the LLC.

I was considering starting 2 more LLCs with my wife. The first LLC would hold the rentals that we own outright and any rentals we acquire in the future. The 2nd LLC would be a property management LLC (I self-manage) that manages the houses owned outright and the mortgaged houses that cannot be held by an LLC.

Does this structuring make sense?  Are there any issues that I am not considering?

[John Pierce]

Thanks for the replies.  So far I have avoided both lawyers and accountants out of fear of the cost. How much does a lawyer and accountant cost?  

@Christopher Phillips I would prefer to cash out of some of the properties and buy more, but both my future wife and dad are opposed to more mortgages.  I'm working on convincing them.