All Forum Posts by: Delia Lopez

LOL WE started buying houses in 89 when everyone told me how dumb I was and I don't know what BRRR method means. I would love to find a place to give me a HELOC on each of my rentals!!!! Asset protection in a snap.

My Trust posts seem to get noticed.   Asset protection is so important, we have 22 places in 4 states.  I've reorganized a bit to improve asset protection and simplify.  I've also had a couple of my "set ups" tested. 

Our properties are now owned by a LIOT (Lifetime Income Only Trust) aka a medicaid trust. We amended our trust from a WQST. These Irrevocable Trusts have been tested by the government and proven solid. I consider the gov a super creditor, they come after you with unlimited funds, yours! With only 1 WY LLC as trustee, a private family trust co anything purchased for a property owned by a trust it's trustee for or a beneficiary of the trust is a legit expenditure. Tough to co-mingle and blow asset protection as could be done with a LLC. So simple to maintain. We do have a NM LLC as trustee of the trust that owns the CA property. It really isn't necessary but help me keep things straight.

My mom has Alzheimers I had her set up in a house a block from the beach in Melaque Mexico. I hired a young couple to live with her, cook, clean make sure she takes meds, walk her to ballroom dance club wed and fri, to the chicken beach to swim, to the little home made ice cream shop ... all good until covid.  She thought she was being held prisoner, cops there, attacking care givers very bad. I have custody of a disabled grandson who'd just had spinal fusion neck to bum.  We found a place in Guadalajara.  Looking into moving her back to USA went thru process and she qualifies for medicaid for a home here.  I have control of her LIOT which owns 4 places in 2 states.  Test 1 passed. She's still in Guadalajara Dr said not to move her she is settled in and change is hard for Alzheimers patients. 

Test 2 a dog on a rental property broke thru the screen to get the door dash driver. I did get a lawyer letter. Responded. No lawsuit filed. The house is owned by a LIOT and a WY LLC is trustee, which is a deterrence to lawyers as it's a federal case (trustee in WY, house in NM) and LIOT house can not be attached. Would I have been sued if I owned the house? No way to be sure.

Evan Farr is a elder law lawyer. He has online classes for lawyers I attend. I also have a lawyer school book "Asset protection strategies and forms" by Dustin Nichols and Mark Ziebold. I have tweaked our Trusts. When we die our son becomes manager of the LLC and trustee of the trusts, he can do whatever, no probate needed. I'm checking out https://platinumtrustgroup.com  seems too good to be true. However I got all the IRS books and read them and I'll be damned it is true, 

Internal Revenue TITLE 26, Subtitle A, CHAPTER 1, Subchapter J, PART I, Subpart A, Sec 643 (a)(3),(4),(7) and (b) states: “(3) Capital gains and losses. Gains from the sale or exchange of capital assets shall be excluded to the extent that such gains are allocated to corpus

I'm still researching but it looks like a legal way to defer taxes. We haven't had a big fed tax bill because of depreciation and other deductible expenses until now, our income is... 

I love real estate and Trust law! 

I always have a HELOC for opportunities that pop up. We started that way decades ago. We scrimped and were always broke, LOL. I'd be working on houses and my husband at work (needed his w-2 for financing) people were shocked. he wasn't there helping me, I always said he has to work to pay for my hobby! Buying houses was an expensive hobby for years. That said Dan Fuller aoausa.com has a great talk on "grow rich slowly". They have an annual landlording seminar in LA CA. Works well for me I have a 4-plex there (ONLY because a daughter living in one unit) so it's a write off to visit my kid (one of em) That said I highly recommend real estate. My husband calls it my addiction. We are hands on, I trust no one (cept my husband) and am a control freak. I have tried management companies with poor results. I screen my own tenants and pretend I am a private investigator trying to find where they are lying to me. Paid screen co's call the numbers on the ap, sometimes the best friend as landlord. I catch that one often,

No, we have everything in a LIOT (Lifetime Income Only Trust aka "medicaid trust) I figure if "Uncle Sam" has problems collecting... We have 1 LLC as trustee, as each LLC must have annual meetings, separate checkbook etc. I also have read where single member LLC's are pierced more often. It's also supposed to be a lawsuit preventer as a lawyer would do a cost benefit analysis before filing suit I am hoping they'd see only the 1 property the tenant is in and an out of state trustee and LIOT and decide costs are higher to file and less likely to collect. We'' see. I also have liability ins. Our Trust, LLC/ trustee are in WY. We have property in OR. CA and NM so none in the state with the trustee so supposed to have to file federal court. It's kinda complicated to explain. Easy to manage, can give some tax advantages. Our real estate investments have surpassed my imagination so we're looking and having our Trust Protector amend the Trust into a Platinum Complex Trust for tax reasons. AOAUSA.com has had seminars on Trusts.

I started buying in ABQ maybe Oct 2017 and prices are up a lot since we got our first one here. I close on basically exactly the same house Thursday for $24,000 more. 

I just got sent this and wanted to update. I now have had an insurance co (Capital) cover my hiney in a lawsuit. I was added in a suit for a tenant who was evicted for non-payment (a lawyer handled the eviction in Los Angeles CA) sued for (long list and) the loss of the value of the rent controlled unit $1,000,000.  Insurance covered I paid my deductible. They paid $90K in lawyers and $40K to tenant to avoid the expense of a jury trial. I call it extortion by lawyer.

Do you won the house you live in?  Do you have any equity? How is your credit? Where are you located?

We own property in 3 states and started in 1989. We saved up a few thousand, my husband continued to work because a stable w-2 is handy for buying. Quit stalling and figure out HOW to buy your first house. Owner occupied is usually the easiest if you don't own a house buy that way FIRST. If you do and there is equity refinance it grab the cash, buy another to move into and rent that one out. Rinse and repeat until the bank cries NO MAS!

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment.

We have multiple properties in 3 States

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

We started buying homes in Oregon in 1989. The political climate has turned and we have fled. We still own a few properties in Oregon that we will be selling and doing more 1031X to NM

I hate to be depressing but if a LLC is a single member it is usually disregarded, if you are managing your rental property as the manager, you again are liable. Reading case law and seeing how the Judge rules is, well shocking sometimes.

Not all states are charging order states for LLC's. Different states have different laws and the judge determines which laws and I bet they most often choose the laws where the suit is. I am not an attorney but I read a lot of attorney books and case law. I now have had our property insurance cover a lawsuit YAY! Curiously what our LLC is being sued for was done by a different lawyer? So I assume it was done properly.

Rental real estate is the area you are most likely to get sued for. It is a cost of doing biz. Know the laws in the area (city, state. landlord/ tenant) and belong to the local landlord group. We are members of ORHA. RAODC and AOAUSA and document everything. That said the documentation is useless until you are in court, the fact is it seldom gets all the way through the jury trial because it is just too expensive. Being "right" is irrelevant, it is about money. If they think you have some they want to take it.

I manage our properties and own nothing. My husband is member, we live in OR which is not a community property state. OR is not a charging order state. They can even take your personal dwelling leaving you $30,000 equity and your company pension leaving you $500 per month. Not your IRA per fed bankruptcy law. We have commercial policies that cover the rentals with good liability coverage and a personal umbrella, which does nothing if it is rental related, this is if a personal issue (car wreck?) happens. I believe CA is not a charging order state and they routinely ignore SMLLC and Trusts. They can foreclose on the property and take any equity if they win.

Any lawyers here can pipe up but I assume they check for assets before filing? If the property is mortgaged so there is nothing to get it becomes less likely to be sued. If it looks like it will be more difficult to get paid, Trust or LLC showing again less likely to file. The best lawsuit from my perspective is never filed at least not against me or any entity we control.

My understanding, not being a lawyer, is "it depends". Depends on what you are sued for etc, many lawyers will purposely sue outside of coverage, as one lawyer on this site mentioned. So far every single time I have been sued it has been completely BS. All the way down to perjured testimony and plaintiffs lawyer knowingly leading them to lie on the stand under oath.  My lawyer said it is pretty common here. Though my lawyer on the last issue said it was the worst he had seen. He went to Yale/Harvard graduated 30+ years ago so not an inexperienced lawyer or dumb. He also has been a personal friend for 10 years.

I have 2 mil per on my commercial policy and 1 mil personal liability umbrella on us and never have had coverage. Insurance is important and I pay for plenty and have had it pay for many claims it does not cover everything, unfortunately.

D