Land Trust

Land trusts are useful for estate planning and for inserting a layer of separation between the beneficial owner(s) of the trust property and the trust property itself.

LT's are often promoted as part of an asset protection plan, and properly used they might well be. But they do not, by themselves provide much protection. If you are looking for protection, buy insurance.

Do not rely on a LT without consulting a real estate attorney. If you fail to do this, you may get an expensive education.

They are deffinitely a plus for being able to transfer or keep properties out of probate also. As far as real estate attorneys, no offense to most, but be careful. It reminds me of my question to an attorney 15yrs ago about why we didn't use an LLC and his response was "we don't trust those, they haven't been around long enough". Well just look throught he yellow pages and see where the LLC's are now! I suggest do a lot of your own homework and get an understanding of Trusts in general too. If people would use them correctly it would save a lot of heart ache and attorney fees. I have an LLC and my home is in a Trust as well as our family ranch.

It is important to know what kind of a vehicle to use when attempting to isolate your own personal liability from that of your investment's potential liability.

15 years ago, LLCs were without a lot of 'case law' to interpret statutory areas of verbiage and different states had different rules for LLCs.

.

The creation of Wealth and its protection from other individuals [for both justified and unjustified claims] is a MAJOR area of expertise beyond merely what some real estate attorneys' may be familiar with.

A further note on LLCs.

Many states like Maryland have a single page form, in MD it is from Dept of Taxation & Assessments [A&T] whereby one can 'create' {SIC} an LLC. Just fill in a couple of blanks [less than 5 if I recall correctly] and PRESTO, out comes an LLC. hahahahahaha

THAT 'CORPORATE VAIL' IS A JOKE FOR EVEN MOST LAW STUDENTS.

Now you may for tax & accounting purposes have an LLC, but what about for liability isolation purposes.

A further note on REIAs. { Real Estate Investor-Investment Associations]

The CCIM certification is a COMMERCIAL certification and it stands for Certified Commercial Investment Member.

1. REIA

   Real Estate Investment Association (REIA) is comprised of a unique mix of some of the brightest, most visionary real estate investment entrepreneurs and ...
   www.reia.org/ - Cached - Similar -

2. Real Estate Investors Association

   A non-profit trade organization with local chapters nationwide. Includes news, membership details, directory of affiliated groups.
   

   Find a REIA - Member Benefits - About Us - Cruise 2010

I know a number of agents and even brokers who have been in the business for over 20 years and who know NOTHING about REIAs. Don't you be one of them. REIAs are almost everywhere today.