All Forum Posts by: Ghassan Jabali

Hello Kearan,

I hope you're doing great. Generally, an LLC can be a good tool for asset protection as well as for tax mitigation. LLCs are very flexible in that they can be taxed as single member/disregarded, partnership, C-Corporation, or S-Corporation. It can be possible for you to have an LLC taxed as an S-Corporation or a traditional S-Corporation. S-Corporations do have a lot of advantages when it comes to corporate deductions that are not available to an LLC taxed as single member or partnership. Many real estate agents have their business insulated inside of either an LLC taxed as an S-Corporation or a traditional S-Corporation to get the corporate deductions and have K-1 income flowing onto their tax returns. However, each situation may be different and so consulting with a CPA could be recommended

Note: This information is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, financial, or investment advice. No attorney-client, fiduciary, or professional relationship is established through this communication.

Hello Jamal,

I hope you're having a great day. Welcome you to Bigger Pockets. I hope you're able to make good connections on this platform.

Investing is definitely exciting for you and I would recommend learning as much as you can with regards to trusts and LLCs for asset protection, especially if you decide to acquire a turnkey property in the coming weeks or months from RTR or any other seller.

Note: This information is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, financial, or investment advice. No attorney-client, fiduciary, or professional relationship is established through this communication.

Hello Brayden,

Welcome to Bigger Pockets. I hope you're able to able to make many connections and learn a great deal on this platform. Being 18 years old and already a licensed real estate agent shows a great level of ambition, especially since 14 years old.

On your journey of investing and learning, I definitely would recommend researching and learning about corporations, LLCs, and trusts as they relate to Real Estate investing, whether its for asset protection or anonymity as it pertains to fix-and-flips, short term rentals, and long term rentals.

Note: This information is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, financial, or investment advice. No attorney-client, fiduciary, or professional relationship is established through this communication.

Hello Joe,

Welcome to Bigger Pockets. I hope you're able to able to make many connections and learn a great deal on this platform.

I'm glad to hear that you have an LLC for the launch of your investment business. The LLC can definitely try to insulate and protect you from any business liability. Depending on what state it was filed in, it may also protect your business from personal liability as well. I may recommend, depending on how ambitious and involved you become with the fix and flips to learn more about multistate structuring if you're planning on investing nationwide vs in a specific state.

Note: This information is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, financial, or investment advice. No attorney-client, fiduciary, or professional relationship is established through this communication.

Hello Philip,

I hope you're doing great and welcome to Bigger Pockets! Congratulations also on approval for your first rental property. There's definitely a lot to learn and lots opportunities out there.

Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions about asset protection with real estate.

Note: This information is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, financial, or investment advice. No attorney-client, fiduciary, or professional relationship is established through this communication.

Quote from @Bryce Jamison:

Quote from @Ghassan Jabali:

Hello Jacqueline,

I hope you're doing great and welcome to Bigger Pockets. I think it is prudent to save up that money with the $20K and let it grow if you can to save for any potential 6 months of expenses.

One thing I may recommend is to consider a Holding LLC for asset protection and anonymity to sequester your savings into. Should any personal liability be triggered, a plaintiff could go after any and all personal assets, including the funds you have been saving. However, if you put it into a Holding LLC that is filed in a state that has Charging Order Protection as the exclusive remedy, then the funds inside the LLC can be protected from any personal creditors. This can give you peace of mind and start investing inside of a business entity.

Please feel free to reach out if you have any additional questions.

Note: This information is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, financial, or investment advice. No attorney-client, fiduciary, or professional relationship is established through this communication.

Did you use AI to write this? I've never heard anyone recommend starting an LLC as step 1 to someone just starting out not knowing where to start. I've also never heard anyone recommend starting an LLC to put their savings in for their first investment.

At some point I do think it makes sense to start putting properties in LLC(s) to protect your personal assets, but it's absolutely not critical especially for the first property or 2.

Hello Bryce,

I hope you're well. No, I did not use AI to write that. I've counseled hundreds of clients about some of the positive elements of having a Holding LLC, even when just starting out, and have used one for my own investing when I started out with my first property to protect it from business liability and personal liability. It may not be the best option for everyone, but something I do like to recommend to look into as an option nevertheless.

Quote from @Jacqueline Ward:

Hi Ghassan,

I appreciate the insight. I currently have it in a high yield saving but, my bank won't open a business account w/o a bank being close by which unfortunately there is not. Any suggestion for business accounts with high yields?

 Hi Jacqueline,

I hope you're having a good day. It is unfortunate to hear about the banking situation, I may recommend either going with a traditional big bank as they usually will not mind opening up a bank account for you where you live, such as Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Chase, Etc. Or you can go with an online bank and open things up online/remotely. I unfortunately don't know which would offer the best high yields among them.

Hello Megan,

I hope you're doing great. That is good to hear that you're working as a property manager and wanting to make connections.

If you're not familiar already, I may recommend learning more about Trusts and LLCs to know more about how properties are held and even for your own investing or managing of properties for asset protection and anonymity purposes.

Note: This information is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, financial, or investment advice. No attorney-client, fiduciary, or professional relationship is established through this communication.

Hello Mike,

I hope you're doing well. Generally, a Quitclaim Deed is a valid deed for transferring ownership interest. However, it is often considered the weakest kind of deed as it transfers essentially whatever interest the previous owner had in the property, with any and all encumbrances, liens, judgments, and issues that may affect the title. It could be very well likely that the previous Seller had only received a Quitclaim Deed and that is the only type of deed they had to transfer over and were not able to make any warranties to amount to a General Warranty Deed or a Special Warranty Deed, or they may have encumbered the property while owning it and had issues over the title and consequently were only able to transfer over a Quitclaim Deed.

Overall, there could be no issues with the property as you received the exact deed the seller had previously or there could be other encumbrances that are or are not listed on the county records.

Note: This information is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, financial, or investment advice. No attorney-client, fiduciary, or professional relationship is established through this communication.

Hello Jacqueline,

I hope you're doing great and welcome to Bigger Pockets. I think it is prudent to save up that money with the $20K and let it grow if you can to save for any potential 6 months of expenses.

One thing I may recommend is to consider a Holding LLC for asset protection and anonymity to sequester your savings into. Should any personal liability be triggered, a plaintiff could go after any and all personal assets, including the funds you have been saving. However, if you put it into a Holding LLC that is filed in a state that has Charging Order Protection as the exclusive remedy, then the funds inside the LLC can be protected from any personal creditors. This can give you peace of mind and start investing inside of a business entity.

Please feel free to reach out if you have any additional questions.

Note: This information is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, financial, or investment advice. No attorney-client, fiduciary, or professional relationship is established through this communication.