If you are into property investment and are not using land trust, you must be lagging far behind your competitors, especially the ones who are using this revocable, living trust for titling property to real estate. When you use this tool, it allows you to title each property in separate trust while ensuring optimum protection and privacy. Following is a brief rundown on how it can help you protect your investment, build a better portfolio, and increase the ROI. Once you’ve secured a land trust for each of your properties, inform your estate planning attorney to update your estate documents. Ideally you would already have an estate administration attorney that you contact for these matters, but if for some reason you do not yet work with one, now would be a good time to start to do your research and ultimately choose one.
Making It Difficult for Others to Find out Who the Owner of the Property Is
Maintaining privacy in the real estate industry is very important. When others do not know what properties you own, it gets you a competitive edge. A property that is titled in land trust ensures optimum privacy for its owners. The trust agreement is not considered as a public record, and so nobody can find the information about the owner over Internet. The privacy you thus get also saves you from legal hassles. Even city code enforcements will have a tough time finding out the actual owner such properties. This way, you can easily avoid legal troubles even if you have made too many violations.
Protecting the Properties from Title Claims
When you use land trust for titling real estate, you also protect yourself from title claims because such claims will then be limited only to the trust.
It Minimizes the Chances of Litigation
Other people do not know how many properties you actually own. They have no idea how rich you are. So, there is a potential plaintiff who is considering suing you for some reasons will think twice before doing so. After all, people sue only those who they think have money to pay. Since you appear to be “broke”, the chances are that they will spare you. Thus the land trust agreement also minimizes the chances of litigation. However, if there are any legal disputes on your trust, consult a lawyer who specializes in trust litigation.
It Protects You from HOA Claims
When you purchase a property in your own name, you are very much likely to be attacked with HAO claims, especially when association finds that a certain amount of money is due to you. It is important to note that associations have the legal right to sue you personally. Even if they don’t do that, they can at least place a lien on your property. On the other hand, when you have that trust agreement in place, the trust will be entirely responsible for all such obligations.
The Ownership Can Be Changed Without Changing the Title
In usual circumstances, when you sell a property, you transfer the title to the name of the buyer. But, in this case, you are a beneficiary of the trust. So, when the ownership to a property is changed, only the name of the beneficiary changes, not the actual title.
There can be several other benefits also. For example, when you have properties titled in land trust, it makes loans “assumable” and contracts assignable.