All Forum Posts by: Bob Floss II

If it's in Illinois, I will be the registered agent. If it's in another state I will hire a service. If a client needs a registered agent, they typically don't want it coming to their house or don't want anyone looking at their LLC to find their home address. I think they also like the piece of mind knowing I'll take of the yearly renewal paperwork. Keep in mind the registered agent of an LLC is also the person who receives notice of lawsuits. The sheriff often comes to my office with LLC service papers and then I have notice of the lawsuit right away.

@Diane Tycangco The structure first recommended to you would be designed for a client with $50 million in assets. If you have a few rental houses, this is way too complicated. I'm a big fan of LLC's and Trusts, and I utilize Wyoming LLC's regularly. However, each situation is different and I typically spend about a half hour talking to clients about operations and assets before recommending an asset protection plan. Anyone talking you into an asset protection plan without actually looking at your assets is trying to upsell you.

I'm seeing a massive increase in 'Subject To' deals to maintain sellers low interest mortgages. It's a good strategy for short term holds if the buyer plans to flip or refinance in a year or two, but I wouldn't recommend long term holding. Eventually the banks will start cracking down.

@Patrick Jones On a commercial property, I'm typically asked to either review the contract before signing or take the LOI and draft a contract with opposing counsel to match the terms of the LOI. After that I'll spend a lot of time on due diligence items reviewing leases and rent rolls with my client to look for any red flags. Depending on the size or the complexity of the deal, I may have to spend a lot of time with the lender modifying the operating agreement of the purchasing entity to meet the lender requirements or draft documents needed for underwriting.

@D.J. Paris III Sorry to hear. I'll reach out. 

Should I assume no title company was involved in the purchase or sale of the property? I'm not sure from your post what "official" documents you are missing. How was the transfer of title handled?

@Kash Johnson Please don't put a lot of stock in free advice. This sounds like a large estate that could be very complex and you need to get advice from specialists. The number of properties does not matter, it's the value of the estate. Depending upon the current value, the attorney may want you to break it up in pieces to limit tax liability. Be prepared that it could be expensive but if you don't set it up properly, the tax bill from the IRS could be significantly larger. Let them tell you the type of Trust you need, but you definitely need a trust, if not several trusts. 

@Kevin Alvarado Geez, this thread turned into a mess. If you talk to a cpa and attorney, they can guide you on the best structure. My only stipulation is you should not do flips in the same entity where you hold your long term investments. Each carry their own risks that you don't want to mix. 

@Mark Ainley @Jonathan Klemm @Xingcai Wu It doesn't apply here, but I'll point out any landlord with a tenant applying for an aid program needs to participate. I had a client with a tenant that applied for a Chicago program and since the landlord didn't sign or participate in the application, the check for $20,000 back rent was cut directly to the tenant. Shocker, the tenant turned around and offered to "settle" with the landlord for $8,000. 

@Xingcai Wu The court will generally guide you to a program they know is funded. There are many different programs available, but not all of them still have funds to give out. The approval process can take several weeks or several months depending on the program.