New to SDIRA Real Estate and wonder how to use my SDIRA LLC

[Chris Colosky]

Hi everyone,

So I had to get a SDIRA, fund it, and win a property all within 2 weeks. It was a quick on the market sale of my neighbor's rental as she passed earlier this year. Anyway, I thought I had it all structured and set, but timing is everything. I got the funds in the SDIRA, won the bid, but the LLC and checking account took longer than I could wait, so I purchased the property directly through the SDIRA.

I understand the ease of control using your own SDIRA LLC in performing payments for maintenance, etc. without the added overhead of the custodian, but I am now unsure how I should use it. My questions are should I transfer the asset to the LLC so that the LLC now owns it, but don't know what that really benefits me other than the protection of my personal assets in the event of being sued. If I don't transfer, can I just transfer funds to the LLC to use the checkbook for transactions pertaining to the SDIRA property and not one owned directly by the LLC?

Also, on the flip side, if the LLC owns the property, can I still use the services of the custodian for rental payments, or do I need to now set something up for the LLC itself for processing? Just trying to get a clearer picture is all.

I have researched this over and over on the internet and cannot seem to find anyone with a similar situation.  So, I decided to join this forum and see if someone would know.  It does seem like a good resource regardless.

[Brett Synicky]

Quote from @Chris Colosky:

Hi everyone,

So I had to get a SDIRA, fund it, and win a property all within 2 weeks. It was a quick on the market sale of my neighbor's rental as she passed earlier this year. Anyway, I thought I had it all structured and set, but timing is everything. I got the funds in the SDIRA, won the bid, but the LLC and checking account took longer than I could wait, so I purchased the property directly through the SDIRA.

I understand the ease of control using your own SDIRA LLC in performing payments for maintenance, etc. without the added overhead of the custodian, but I am now unsure how I should use it. My questions are should I transfer the asset to the LLC so that the LLC now owns it, but don't know what that really benefits me other than the protection of my personal assets in the event of being sued. If I don't transfer, can I just transfer funds to the LLC to use the checkbook for transactions pertaining to the SDIRA property and not one owned directly by the LLC?

Also, on the flip side, if the LLC owns the property, can I still use the services of the custodian for rental payments, or do I need to now set something up for the LLC itself for processing? Just trying to get a clearer picture is all.

I have researched this over and over on the internet and cannot seem to find anyone with a similar situation.  So, I decided to join this forum and see if someone would know.  It does seem like a good resource regardless.

Have you tried talking with the IRA provider or whoever helped you set up the LLC? Hopefully you didn't diy the LLC. Typically if you go to company to set up an IRA LLC the set up process isn't complete until the LLC checking account is funded so something about what you did sounds a little off.

Nevertheless, if the ira owns the property then you now have to go through the custodian for all transactions pertaining to the property. The LLC doesn’t own it so the LLC can’t pay for anything. You could transfer title to the LLC but if there’s a loan on the property this may be a little more complicated and potentially costly. 

Again, check with the provider of the IRA.