All Forum Posts by: Taylor C

Hi,

Sorting out some pieces here and I think we've been staring at this too long so your fresh insights would go a long way.

Took title to property in personal name and now doing some tax planning, estate planning, asset protection and privacy.

I'm greatly oversimplifying that survey says use trusts to hold props, llcs as beneficiary and maybe other entity to control/manage.

Where it gets especially hairy is single v. multi-member, member-managed v. manager managed (and professional manager), partnership v passthrough to 1040, avoidance of self-employment tax, and preserving passive income status (if it's not offset by valid expenses) to name a few.

Then there's the issue of collecting rents and paying mortgage. Assuming prop is in trust and beneficiary is an LLC, there is the issue of managing the property and collecting rents and paying mortgage and taxes, and expenses. I've been told to have a 2nd entity and that this entity would collect rents and pay expenses from its own business account. In North Carolina, if you're a "property management" company, I'm told you need some kind of license to do this (which we don't have). Then there's keeping security deposits - can this entity deposit security deposits from tenants of different properties w/out having to have the special bank account that gives ids to each tenant (read this somewhere in BP forums). To add to the mix, we have a local real estate agent (i.e., someone who has a license) who shows the property and takes deposits from tentants (currently in our personal name). I don't really want to add to the agent's burden by requiring the agent to create an LLC and have a separate bank account etc.

In the short term, I understand we can keep lease and assign it to eventual entity (LLC, C corp)

I know I've got a lot in here so it's OK if you have time to zero in on one or more pieces.

Whatever experience and solutions you have to clarify and make it happen are most appreciated :)

Thanks-

Joe, I replied before reading your last post. Screening at first contact is now going to be how we do it too. We were kind of doing it, but not on a consistent basis, and not following a process or specific questions.

Joe, if you can, would love to know the name of a service that's worked for you.

Mike, Edwin, Nathan, I appreciate your feedback too. This is pointing to how we've wasted time showing units to a few tenants we probably would have screened out. Lesson learned.

Nathan, you make a good point about having the same screening process.

Mike, laying it out upfront is a great idea.

Edwin and Nathan, I like the idea of the application right up front.

Hi Dan,

Thanks for jumping in and for the reminder about the tried and true printed 1-pager application. We've been doing a lot online and had skipped this recently going for the screening instead.

This second option is usually not an option for us because tenants are coming from out of town.

Hey there,

Recently we've tried the transunion tool and we have generally found prospective applicants shying away from this online approach.

So maybe you can help me sort this out.

One, when, at what point in the process, do you bring up and do the screening?

And then, what's the simplest, quickest, cost effective way to do the screening offline and do you need the tenant to sign something?

Thank you~

Josh - oops, you're right. Thanks.

We've generally found prospective applicants to be weary of this online approach. Seems like it is too slick for them if you know what I mean.

How else are others doing these checks in a more traditional way?

Originally posted by Jon Holdman:

If you're counting on getting the rent to make you're payments, you are going to be in a world of hurt if when you have a midnight moveout.

Jon, totally agree on that. Not counting on rent being there to make payments - of course it has to be there sooner rather than later :) ...Btw, "midnight moveout" could be the name of a popular landlord song

Hi all,

This is great feedback.

To clarify a bit on what I mentioned about a couple of people I've met who make it due the last week of the month, I'm still sorting it out, but from what I gathered, in that scenario, rent agreements run from let's say the 25th to the 25th of the next month.

Rents would be late by the first and proceedings would begin as many have said here. In theory the part about helping getting it rented again has something to do with having it ready for someone who wants to move in on the first but who still pays according to the 25-25 schedule.

Josh thanks for your quick reply.

A couple of people I've met make it due the last week of the month. Something about it helping get it rented again.