Has anyone used corporate direct (Garrett Sutton) for LLC
Bay Area, CA · Member since 2016 · 19 posts · 7 votes
I went down a long road with Sutton Law / Corporate Direct trying to structure my businesses. PM me if you want the scoop. Anyway, at the end of the long road was a PDF document (the Articles of Organization) for which I was charged $695, plus $102 filing fee (for WY), and a $50 EIN fee. (They give you one year free Registered Agent (RA) service and then charge you $125 per year after that.)
Two scams here: First there is the $50 EIN fee. I found out that you can get an EIN for free from the IRS in 5 minutes! The second scam is the $695 for the PDF. It's just a Word doc that they fill in the blanks, click Export to PDF, and then email to you. When I found that out, I asked for the Word Doc file. Lisa claimed: "it's not our policy to provide the doc file but I will ask my manager". Then Stephanie emailed me and said that Garrett told her to refund my money and say "sorry we could not help you."
Wyoming Register Agents will set you up with an LLC for $199 and then only charge you $99 per year for registered agent service.
Wyoming Agents only charges a $150 setup fee... or even $125 if you file yourself! Wyoming Agents only charges $25 per year for registered agent service. And I found out you can switch RA's to Wyoming Agents any time, for just $25 per year.
I too was fooled by the "Rich Dad Advisors" badge, but boy was the air let out of my tires. Now I will avoid all of the Rich Dad Advisors.
Hi Christian,
I also read his book and am also planning to use them. I called them and got really good response. But I have not started the process. I wonder how it goes for you
Sherry
I too am considering them. Any input from either of you on how it went and cost structure?
thanks,
Bo
Has anyone on this thread followed through on working with them? I tried to engage with them via email and couldn’t get them to respond back to me after a few attempts. Do they only respond to phone calls?
Mr. Sutton offers a complimentary half-hour phone consultation--or used to, and we took advantage of this several months ago. We'd learned about him after hearing him interviewed either on a Kathy Fettke (Real Wealth Network) or Holly McCann podcast. He was pretty impressive on the podcast, especially about limiting liability through the use of out of an LLC set up out of state--I believe in Montana--as well as possibly a second LLC in state (wherever you may be).
So we called and I spoke with him for just over 30 minutes, and liked him quite a bit. I believe his charge would have been around $700 for the setup, plus a yearly fee of some type, although I think this depended upon the kind of business we were going to set up, whether we were going to buy more than one property, whether we were going to move, and probably some other factors I've forgotten.
We were seriously considering going with his plan, and still may, but our progress on this step was disrupted by some medical issues, then by our decision to move from the balmy climate of So Cal's desert, to the balmier (IMO) world of Atlanta. Since getting here we've decided to check out a couple of local CPAs first, and as much as I liked Sutton, having been here for a few weeks I'm wondering more and more about whether having an in state--better yet, local-- rather than out of state CPA may give us a greater comfort level. I don't have the accounting expertise to know if there really is a benefit, but I also wonder whether, although the business setup is very important, it's probably well within the abilities of a lot of competent CPAs, and that having a local (i.e., in state) cpa may give us some greater advantages. Again, I'm not sure if that's really the case, and if so, what they may be, but it's our thinking right now.
Anyway, if you haven't already, my suggestion would be to try looking up the Sutton podcast on Fettke or McCann's websites, and see what you think. Either way, best of luck.
@Christian L. have you engaged them yet? We have a call lined up for this afternoon and wanted to get your take on them... Thanks, Dustin
@Simon C. I just started the process with them today. So far so good. I called them up and had them set me up with 15 minute consultation. I've read most of Garrett's books so I was familiar with how I wanted to set up my entity. The person who's helping me seems nice, our interaction being short for the reason mentioned above. They sent me a price brochure, called them back up to tell them what I wanted, they then send you a checklist and an invoice. Once you send payment and the checklist they get to work. I believe it takes around 3 weeks to get it all done. That's all I have so far.
@Emmanuel Perez - thanks for the feedback! Was the initial consultation helpful in terms of educating and guiding you to what you want as far as asset protection?
@Simon C. I didn't have much of a consultation. Like I mentioned above, I've read most of Garrett's books, so I'm well versed in what it entails so I didn't need any guiding. Sorry I can't elaborate further. They asked me what was the reason for setting up the LLC and if I knew where I wanted it set up. Told them and they understood. So like I said I sent in the paperwork yesterday and today around noon I received an email stating that my LLC is up and running! Other states take longer, so I know this isn't the norm (Wyoming btw). Was told to sign the SS4 form to set up my EIN and sent it back. That's where I'm currently at.
@Emmanuel Perez - thanks for the feedback! glad to hear that your LLC is up and running already!
Hi, I use Corporate Direct for my LLC set-up. I talked to Lisa, she was knowledgable and anwsered the questions I had about best options. I have in the past done the online LLC do-it-yourself and never had all the right protections in place. Lucky I never had a legal issue happen. I got into trouble with a State for filing incorrectly that cost a bunch of fees to correct. I like that they have a good price comparatively and they do all the needed legal things to be protected when working with real estate size money and legal issues. They have forms that are emailed over and the process is simple.
@Ron Vaughn Great to find this thread! We are also curious on their services and satisfaction!
I went down a long road with Sutton Law / Corporate Direct trying to structure my businesses. PM me if you want the scoop. Anyway, at the end of the long road was a PDF document (the Articles of Organization) for which I was charged $695, plus $102 filing fee (for WY), and a $50 EIN fee. (They give you one year free Registered Agent (RA) service and then charge you $125 per year after that.)
Two scams here: First there is the $50 EIN fee. I found out that you can get an EIN for free from the IRS in 5 minutes! The second scam is the $695 for the PDF. It's just a Word doc that they fill in the blanks, click Export to PDF, and then email to you. When I found that out, I asked for the Word Doc file. Lisa claimed: "it's not our policy to provide the doc file but I will ask my manager". Then Stephanie emailed me and said that Garrett told her to refund my money and say "sorry we could not help you."
Wyoming Register Agents will set you up with an LLC for $199 and then only charge you $99 per year for registered agent service.
Wyoming Agents only charges a $150 setup fee... or even $125 if you file yourself! Wyoming Agents only charges $25 per year for registered agent service. And I found out you can switch RA's to Wyoming Agents any time, for just $25 per year.
I too was fooled by the "Rich Dad Advisors" badge, but boy was the air let out of my tires. Now I will avoid all of the Rich Dad Advisors.
Hi Steve,
My husband and I are in the process of selecting a state in which to form a parent LLC for our rentals in different states. We are considering Delaware, Wyoming, or some of the other landlord friendly/ privacy favorable states. You chose WY, yet invest in FL. Any particular reason for WY over the others?
Best,
Rebecca
Thank you very much Steve for that insightful and helpful feedback on Corporate Direct. Sorry you had the experience which we get the benefit of avoiding. As Rebecca inquired, I too am curious as to the benefit of forming a LLC in WY. Could you please share? Thank you.
I went down a long road with Sutton Law / Corporate Direct trying to structure my businesses. PM me if you want the scoop. Anyway, at the end of the long road was a PDF document (the Articles of Organization) for which I was charged $695, plus $102 filing fee (for WY), and a $50 EIN fee. (They give you one year free Registered Agent (RA) service and then charge you $125 per year after that.)
Two scams here: First there is the $50 EIN fee. I found out that you can get an EIN for free from the IRS in 5 minutes! The second scam is the $695 for the PDF. It's just a Word doc that they fill in the blanks, click Export to PDF, and then email to you. When I found that out, I asked for the Word Doc file. Lisa claimed: "it's not our policy to provide the doc file but I will ask my manager". Then Stephanie emailed me and said that Garrett told her to refund my money and say "sorry we could not help you."
Wyoming Register Agents will set you up with an LLC for $199 and then only charge you $99 per year for registered agent service.
Wyoming Agents only charges a $150 setup fee... or even $125 if you file yourself! Wyoming Agents only charges $25 per year for registered agent service. And I found out you can switch RA's to Wyoming Agents any time, for just $25 per year.
I too was fooled by the "Rich Dad Advisors" badge, but boy was the air let out of my tires. Now I will avoid all of the Rich Dad Advisors.
So are you saying they did not provide all the things outlined here?
According to that page, they should have provided Bylaws, Stock certificates, etc. If thats the case, there is a red flag.
But I don't think charging 50 bucks to go get someone an EIN is a scam; they have to go obtain it for you, which takes a degree of effort on their part aka work. Which, as an ironic twist, the IRS "EIN Assistant" service is currently down...maybe that's why they charge.
If they truly aren't providing all the extra services outlined in the table over the $199 providers, then thats a problem.
I plan on talking to them, as their sales pitch of being asset protection ninjas interests me. I'm specifically interested in the WY entity/strategy as that's a level of sorcery I'm not getting from local attorneys I've talked to.
Wanted to provide an update about my experience with Corporate Direct. I spoke to them about forming an LLC in Florida for the purpose of buy and hold real estate investing in Florida. They recommended I form a Wyoming LLC to serve as a parent company to the Florida LLC. After all of the fees, it was going to run about $1500 total. I ended up shopping around and settled on a very knowledgeable local RE attorney who filed my Florida LLC and took care of everything for $500. Florida is a pro business state with solid LLC protection. I could see the benefits of leveraging a Wyoming or Montana LLC should you live in a less business friendly state or one with much higher fees (California etc.). But, in this case, I can't help but feel like they automatically want to create two LLCs for every situation; I mean, they get double the fees for everything, right? There is also a lot of up-selling that I don't think is necessary. For example, offering to "store" company stock vouchers in a safe in Wyoming for example to allegedly make your entity that much more difficult to "pierce". Again, I really questioned the motive behind all of this and that's why I sought additional council, ultimately going elsewhere. Good luck.
***I am not a lawyer nor offering legal advice! :)
I used Corporate Direct services to set up an LLC two years ago. So far they have done a very professional job. I remember that I asked to be treated as an S Corp and they sent us the updated Operating Agreement free of charge.
Last but not least, I opened and account with Duns & Bradstreet and created a couple of Trade References. Duns and Bradstreet was supposed to contact each Trade Reference to verify my payments. Turned out that Coporate Direct was the only Trade Reference to reply to Duns & Bradstreet.
Wanted to provide an update about my experience with Corporate Direct. I spoke to them about forming an LLC in Florida for the purpose of buy and hold real estate investing in Florida. They recommended I form a Wyoming LLC to serve as a parent company to the Florida LLC. After all of the fees, it was going to run about $1500 total. I ended up shopping around and settled on a very knowledgeable local RE attorney who filed my Florida LLC and took care of everything for $500. Florida is a pro business state with solid LLC protection. I could see the benefits of leveraging a Wyoming or Montana LLC should you live in a less business friendly state or one with much higher fees (California etc.). But, in this case, I can't help but feel like they automatically want to create two LLCs for every situation; I mean, they get double the fees for everything, right? There is also a lot of up-selling that I don't think is necessary. For example, offering to "store" company stock vouchers in a safe in Wyoming for example to allegedly make your entity that much more difficult to "pierce". Again, I really questioned the motive behind all of this and that's why I sought additional council, ultimately going elsewhere. Good luck.
***I am not a lawyer nor offering legal advice! :)
I hope we see this before we spend that double money and so confused..... To find someone local, want to help and will not end phone so fast is the most right choice.
@Greg K. can you share where / which entity structure you ended up with?
Just adding my 2cent's. I have no problem paying experts to do things in which I have no expertise, and that if not done correctly could cost my assets. If you're using the BRRR methods to build your portfolio, I don't understand why anyone would want to want time finding cheaper than Sutton law or heaven forbid doing it yourself. My time is better spent doing what Im good at, not nickle and diming something as important as how to structure my entities.
For example, my experience trying to find a (qualified in my eyes, after reading Garrett's books) a RE attorney in Boulder CO. I was blown away that all 3 that I were recommended via RE agent friends, ALL had multiple RE rental investments in their personal names! WTF?!!! I found their RE assets in minutes of doing my due diligence before even trying to engage them. Of course I didn't bother after finding their own unprotected assets. At that point I called Sutton and asked then to take care of things. Sutton Law isn't some fly-by-night, and it's in their best interests to protect their clients. As far as I've been able to tell, their reputation is stellar and worth every penny.
Mr. Sutton offers a complimentary half-hour phone consultation--or used to, and we took advantage of this several months ago. We'd learned about him after hearing him interviewed either on a Kathy Fettke (Real Wealth Network) or Holly McCann podcast. He was pretty impressive on the podcast, especially about limiting liability through the use of out of an LLC set up out of state--I believe in Montana--as well as possibly a second LLC in state (wherever you may be).
So we called and I spoke with him for just over 30 minutes, and liked him quite a bit. I believe his charge would have been around $700 for the setup, plus a yearly fee of some type, although I think this depended upon the kind of business we were going to set up, whether we were going to buy more than one property, whether we were going to move, and probably some other factors I've forgotten.
We were seriously considering going with his plan, and still may, but our progress on this step was disrupted by some medical issues, then by our decision to move from the balmy climate of So Cal's desert, to the balmier (IMO) world of Atlanta. Since getting here we've decided to check out a couple of local CPAs first, and as much as I liked Sutton, having been here for a few weeks I'm wondering more and more about whether having an in state--better yet, local-- rather than out of state CPA may give us a greater comfort level. I don't have the accounting expertise to know if there really is a benefit, but I also wonder whether, although the business setup is very important, it's probably well within the abilities of a lot of competent CPAs, and that having a local (i.e., in state) cpa may give us some greater advantages. Again, I'm not sure if that's really the case, and if so, what they may be, but it's our thinking right now.
Anyway, if you haven't already, my suggestion would be to try looking up the Sutton podcast on Fettke or McCann's websites, and see what you think. Either way, best of luck.
We live in the Atlant area and are considering Sutton Law. I was wondering if you decided to go with them or try a Georga-based attorney.