#1 Reason to Have LLC for Rental Property

 

If you have rental property, you need to make sure you have the right business structure to protect yourself and your profits.

I have helped hundreds of real estate investors set up their LLC for rental property so they can avail of the rental property LLC tax advantage from their real estate rental companies.

With my knowledge of the system in specific states, I can make sure that you:

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• Don’t have to take personal liability for when things go wrong.
• Protect as much of your profit from the IRS as possible.
• Make filing easy and simple.

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Want to know about some more benefits of LLC for a rental property? In this post, you’re about to discover some of the reasons why an LLC for rental property is a great solution for you.

With that being said, here’s the best guide you’re going to find on LLCs, investing in rental properties across the nation, and how to start a rental property business.

 

What is Limited Liability Company LLC?

An LLC (Limited Liability Company) is a business that combines elements of a corporation, partnership, and sole proprietorship. An LLC is generally a less complex business entity than a corporation and offers owners a variety of benefits that may not be available to other types of businesses.

A limited liability company (LLC) is a popular business structure because the entity is simple to form and it protects the owners from personal responsibility for the debts and obligations of the business.

First, you may not fully understand what an LLC is as a business entity.

Known as a Limited Liability Company (LLC), this is a specific type of business structure. It’s possible to create one by yourself or with a whole group of people.

You’re only ever a single ‘member’ of an LLC, even if you have full control over it.

The reason why I recommend that you contact me at sam@mollaeilaw.com to help you with this is that the LLC structure is regulated at the state level. What that means is that every state has its own rules when it comes to setting up an LLC for rental property in another state.

There are no rules that are going to cover every single scenario.

And setting up an LLC may not be the best option for investors in every state.

 

Benefits of LLC for Rental Property

Regardless of the different rules across every state for establishing an LLC, you have four main benefits of LLC for rental property business that are relevant regardless. These benefits are:

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1. Limiting your personal liability.
2. Separating your rental properties.
3. Pass-through taxation.
4. Easily keep personal and business income separate.

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One of the benefits of LLC for rental property is limiting your personal liability. If an LLC owns a property, nobody can sue you as an individual. That means they can’t touch your personal assets.

When someone sues an LLC that owns the rental property, the rental property is the only asset at stake. And for most people trying to sue, this is going to deter them from even bothering.

This is also another reason why LLCs are so adept at keeping your assets separate.

Many landlords will have separate LLCs for every single property. So, if someone wants to sue them, they don’t get access to their assets or the other rental properties.

LLCs aren’t just protective measures. They also come with tax benefits. This means that you can also avail of rental property LLC tax advantage.

The primary tax benefit is known as pass-through taxation.

Pass-through taxation means that you only get taxed on your income. A corporation is taxed on what the company makes and what the owner makes, but you’re only taxed a single time with an LLC.

With an LLC, you get the benefit of the company’s income “passing through” to you as the business owner or a property owner. Essentially, all income made by your LLC (your residential or commercial property) will flow through to your individual income tax return

Finally, an LLC is a fantastic way of keeping your investment and your bank accounts separate. For administration purposes, this is an easy technique for staying organized.

In short, these four LLC benefits will protect your investments, defend against lawsuits, give you more of your money, and make administration simple if you set up an LLC for rental property.

Personal Assets

When you own a property as an individual, you are personally liable for any legal actions, which means your personal assets are at stake. By operating through an LLC, only the LLC’s assets would be at state should there be any lawsuit or claim made.

Overall, the larger the rental business, and the lower your tolerance for risk, the more you should consider forming an LLC. Protecting Your Personal Liability One of the main reasons to form an LLC is to protect your personal belongings, like your car, bank accounts, and your home, from the debts of the business. But forming an LLC is not the only way owners can protect their personal assets.

Personal Liability

As stated above, the main benefit of forming an LLC is personal liability protection. If you operate rental properties with only liability insurance and do not form a business, your personal assets, including your bank account, your own home, and other belongings become subject to lawsuits and other costs incurred that land outside the scope of your insurance.

Yes, you may have liability insurance, but if someone is seriously injured on your property, they can sue you personally for medical expenses and damages above and beyond the limits of your policy. If your property is owned by an LLC, your personal assets are protected in the case of an extreme loss or lawsuit. Another reason to place a property title in the name of an LLC is that it gives you liability protection against monetary judgments if a financial dispute involving the LLC arises.

Business Expenses

When you set up an LLC, you’ll want to have separate bank account, separate bank statements, and credit cards associated with it. This way your business and personal expenses are delineated, and come tax time, sorting and claiming your business expenses will be much easier than if you were using one account straight through to you, and you claim it on your tax return. Your rental income is only taxed once instead of twice.

Costs involved in setting up the LLC can come from registration fees, title transfer fees, and legal fees for creating or reviewing your operating agreement.

Real Estate Investing

If you’re going to build a business around real estate investing, run it as a business. An LLC is a company. If you’re looking to make this a side hustle or just something you do a little bit, then do it in your name and own one or two properties—that’s OK. But if in the future you intend to build a big portfolio, set up an LLC.

Another benefit of setting up an LLC for your investment property is pass-through taxation. This means that the business does not have to file a separate tax return. Rather, any profits or losses will be reported on the owner’s (or owners’) personal income taxes.

You can name your LLC anything you want, as long as it’s not a name already registered in your state and it’s appropriate for your rental business. Overall, the larger the rental business, and the lower your tolerance for risk, the more you should consider forming an LLC.

Rental Company

Before you file LLC formation paperwork for your rental company, take time to consider the needs of your business and the cost to form and maintain an LLC. But ff you decide to form an LLC for your rental company, your first step is to file articles of organization and begin the process of forming your new company. You can then apply for an EIN if necessary, as well as open a separate bank account and/or credit line for each residential or commercial property LLC that you start.

 

Should You Form an LLC for Rental Property?

This depends on your circumstances.

I recommend you get in touch with me at sam@mollaeilaw.com to discuss your personal situation with me. I can give you an idea of the advantages and disadvantages of forming an LLC for your rental property. This way, you will know about the benefits of LLC for rental property.

Take advantage of my expert advice, you won’t regret it!

But to answer the more general question any landlord can, in theory, you should benefit from setting up an LLC. This doesn’t change even if you only have a single property or a hundred properties.

One type of investor who should always have an LLC is one who is a part of a consortium. An LLC will have an operating agreement when they set up an LLC for rental property.

The operating agreement will define the rights of every member and the responsibilities they have.

The purpose of an LLC operating agreement is to define the structure of your LLC and head off problems before they occur. At its best, an LLC operating agreement gives you the ability to think through a variety of scenarios related to the management and ownership of the properties contained within the LLC.

This can make it easier to solve disputes at an informal and formal level.

 

When is the Right Time to Form an LLC for Rental Property?

You may have already decided as to whether you want an LLC for rental property. But the good news is it doesn’t matter when you form this LLC.

Some investors decide to set up an LLC before they buy the property and some after they buy the property.

But I recommend you do it BEFORE you buy the property for the following reasons:

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• No need to close the mortgage loan and open another (costs incurred by you).
• Changing the rental lease agreements.
• You may have to pay the Title Transfer Tax.

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If you started off with the US LLC, to begin with, you don’t need to worry about any of this. Everything was in the name of the LLC to start with.

The difficulty of already having a rental property under your name is you’ll need to go through the title transfer process to set up an LLC.

Depending on where you live, you may pay a flat fee or a percentage of the business’s net worth. You may also end up paying a title transfer tax, which is charged—as the name suggests—for transferring the property title from one name (yours) to another (the business).

This can be complex. Although I can help you out with this, it’s best if you don’t have to go through the process in the first place.

 

How Does an LLC for Rental Property Affect My Financing?

Some investors worry that by transferring property to an LLC after receiving financing, it could put the money at risk. This is simply not true when it comes to setting up an LLC for residential or commercial property.

But it will make things more complex because the person on the deed changes, so that change must be reflected in the financing agreement.

For the most part, this is a simple process.

The original financing agreement is closed and another identical one with a different name is opened. However, there are usually closing costs that must be paid by the LLC (owner).

Is it always so easy?

It depends on the lender. Most lenders understand the needs of investors and this is such a common way of handling investments that it comes as nothing new to them.

But others may decide to drag their feet and cause the process to take longer than it needs to.

Therefore, I strongly recommend that you establish the LLC for a rental property before you decide to purchase a rental property.

 

LLC for Residential or Commercial Property Pros and Cons

An LLC for rental property is a great idea. I’m going to go through the LLC for rental property pros and cons, so you can make an informed decision.

 

Pros

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• LLCs are easier to manage than other business structures, such as the corporation.
• You can hold real estate under this type of business.
• Easy to transfer assets between members.
• No personal liability for you.
• Rental property LLC tax advantage through the pass-through tax.

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Cons

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• Annual fees for every LLC you establish.
• It can be harder to get financing for multiple properties.
• The process can be problematic in certain anti-business states like California, New York, and New Jersey.

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The issue with annual fees depends entirely on the state you are in. Some states have better rules on this than others.

Therefore, you should get in touch with me at sam@mollaeilaw.com to talk about whether your state is a good candidate for setting up an LLC for rental property.

The other disadvantage is that some lenders may give you better options if you pool multiple investment properties together.

You need to decide if more accessible finance is worth the increased risks of pooling properties under a single LLC.

 

Should I Create an LLC for my Rental Property?

Yes! This is especially the case if you are just getting started.

You don’t want to take a risk of someone suing you and your assets are suddenly at stake. The only way to protect yourself is with a separate business entity.

As your portfolio grows, you will be able to take advantage of more elaborated schemes, as well as personal support, but in the beginning, an LLC is your best protection.

But as we talked about before, you should focus on creating an LLC before purchasing the rental property.

 

Do I Need an LLC for Rental Property?

There’s no law stating that an LLC for rental property is required. You can have the property in your name easily enough.

However, any smart investor will want to not only protect their assets but to protect their future investments.

Let’s use an example to illustrate this:

You have just bought a rental property and an independent contractor is seriously injured when they are working on it. They want to sue.

This could go in multiple directions.

Unfortunately, you must pay them some money and it has to come out of the property you just invested in, thus forcing you to sell. Bummer!

But imagine if it was a serious accident and you didn’t have a separate LLC for the property. Suddenly, all your other rental properties are in play and your assets.

Now you risk losing everything you have ever worked for.

So, no, you don’t need an LLC for rental property, but you really should get one.

 

LLC for Residential or Commercial Property in Another State

You should always have an LLC for a rental property in another state for the same reasons as your home state.

There are no specific rules against someone from out-of-state forming an LLC. But there may be completely different rules in play.

Let’s look at some examples:

You’ve incorporated an LLC in Delaware and you have a tax-friendly regime and an easy corporate tax system. It also has a history of siding with business when it comes to disputes.

Nevada also makes it easy to form an LLC in its state. There is no personal income or corporate tax income requirements. So, this is one of the most cost-effective states to set up an LLC for your next rental property in.

On the other hand, New York comes with awkward rules regarding filing and heavy property taxes. They have one of the worst business climates in the nation, according to a variety of surveys.

Naturally, you can only form an LLC in the state where your rental property is. But you must keep in mind the rules before you even consider investing.

For example, many people won’t invest money in New York or California beyond flipping property because it’s so difficult to deal with the responsibilities of establishing long-term protections.

Let the difficulties associated with forming LLCs in one state or another factor in your decision to invest.

It’s a big deal.

 

How to Create an LLC for Rental Property?

Again, it depends on the state you are trying to form that LLC in.

Delaware, Nevada, and Wyoming are usually known as the easiest states. There are few requirements for filing and a few ongoing responsibilities.

California, New Jersey, and New York are known as some of the worst.

When you create an llc, it must be done in the right way to maximize those protections. You should not attempt this yourself unless you have previous experience in managing this type of business structure.

I have years of experience in establishing LLCs for my clients. I also have contacts across all 50 states with state-specific knowledge regarding the rules and requirements for setting up an LLC there.

Creating an LLC for residential or commercial property is a good way to protect yourself and your money from liability issues.

Depending on the state you live in, you could benefit by making it easier to manage your income and taxes as well. With this depth of knowledge, you know you are in the best hands.

We strongly recommend doing state-specific research to further understand the process of creating an LLC in your state, along with any specific fees and associated costs.

Send me a message at sam@mollaeilaw.com regarding your situation and I’ll come up with tailored recommendations and an action plan for what you need to do next to further understand the process of creating an LLC in your state.

 

What to do Next?

An LLC for rental property should be considered vital for anyone who wants to invest in rental property in the US.

The risk of being sued has never been higher and you must make sure that you protect your other rental properties and personal assets.

An LLC ensures that nobody can touch what you have worked so hard to get.

Contact me today at sam@mollaeilaw.com and let me show you what you need to do to protect your money by setting up an LLC for rental property.