While you are busy building your real estate portfolio, making investments and earning your passive income, it’s important to remember to raise the drawbridge and protect your future income. You should work with experienced professionals that understand the real estate investment business. Please note that this article is for informational purposes, not financial or legal advice.
As a Ohio and California real estate investor, you must understand how to protect your assets to avoid seeing your investments slip through your fingers. Public records list personal assets and provide information that could make you a lawsuit target. So enacting a strategy to protect yourself from the long arm of creditor claims is essential. As a landlord, you can separate your business and personal assets through an asset protection plan and take steps to limit your risk on individual properties. While nothing is foolproof, these steps are worth the effort. So read on as we explore what Ohio and California real estate investors need to know about asset protection.
Landlord Insurance
Your liability, or what you’re legally responsible for, can play a significant role in the outcome of a determination on a claim by your insurer. Therefore, understanding what is and isn’t covered and what steps you must take to protect yourself from lawsuits from injuries to tenants or their guests is an integral part of the picture Ohio and California real estate investors need to keep in mind when it comes to their asset protection strategy.
LLC
A limited liability company or an LLC is a legal business entity that is best used by holding an individual property in the LLC and paying the mortgage and operating expenses. Investors may place other asset classes within the LLC as well. Depending on your income level and the total value of holdings, it may be best to group properties under one LLC. LLCs shield personal assets from business debts and help you avoid double taxation. A complete understanding of these steps to protect the investment for your heirs is something Ohio and California real estate investors need to know about asset protection.
Trusts
Trusts serve as a depository to pass on assets to beneficiaries and protect their anonymity from peering eyes, another part of asset protection that Ohio and California real estate investors need to know. As the trust’s creator, individuals can hold an ownership interest in an LLC to avoid probate, have full power with the ability to change the terms, or entirely revoke the trust. A married couple’s trust has the potential to save beneficiaries nearly a million dollars in estate taxes.
Land Trusts
Land trusts are exclusive to real estate and mortgages or notes; this is another area of asset protectionOhio and California real estate investors need to know well. Land trusts also provide anonymity and avoid probate and certain liability protections. These organizations take authority or ownership of an investment property at your request as the owner and manage the property on behalf of the owner’s interests as a living trust while the owner is alive.
Real Estate Investment Business
Successful real estate investments can grow great wealth to pass on to your heirs. First, however, it would be best if you understood that investing in real estate is a business and requires dedication, thereby ensuring the long-term value of the holdings in your portfolio for your beneficiaries. Building and maintaining a healthy portfolio means you must know your market, understand the shifts and phases of current market values and be selective about the location of your investments. Investors should interact in the Ohio and California real estate market daily to keep tabs on market trends and local changes that affect investments. At Homesmith Properties, our professional buyers understand that performing due diligence and running the numbers on each investment requires a reliable team with the mindset of investors. The professional buyers at Homesmith Properties have spent years networking among like-minded professionals from every walk of the real estate industry to build the best team in the business.
The professional buyers at Homesmith Properties are seasoned experts who built a career investing in the local Ohio and California real estate and know the market intimately. At Homesmith Properties, we are passionate about helping our investors earn the highest possible returns on their investments and live out their retirement, enjoying their golden years on the cash flow earned through their passive income. At Homesmith Properties, we have an in-house team to handle everything an investor needs. Working with a professional buyer from Homesmith Properties makes it easy for investors like you to achieve your asset protection goals. Let the pros at Homesmith Properties help you find the right location for your next investment or 1031 exchange property. Don’t forget to ask about our inventory of the best available investment properties in Ohio and California, steadily updated due to our vast connections in every facet of the local real estate industry. Call Homesmith Properties at 1-833-HSPROPERTIES (477-7673).