What entity do you hold your real estate in? LLC or Living Trust ?

In what entity do I hold my real estate?

As confusing as the use of “Affect” vs “Effect”, or when to use “Who” vs “Whom”, so is the question of “How do I hold my real estate? Should it be held in an LLC, or a Living Trust?”.

As the New Year gets underway, you will likely be scheduling a meeting with both your Attorney and CPA. While we are unable to give legal or tax advice, here are some questions which you may wish to address with your professional advisors.

• My primary home: Most of our clients who have a Living Trust generally title their primary residence in their Living Trust. Question for your advisors would be; What are the benefits to holding title in a Living Trust vs in my/our individual name(s)?
• Vacation or Second Home: Since we now have websites such as airbnb, homeaway, tripping.com, etc., more property owners are looking to offset the financial impact of the second property by short term rentals. This presents a different scenario to discuss with your advisors. Whether to create an LLC and show it as a rental income or to keep it personal, what impact could this have? Your advisor will be able to go over options and scenarios for your specific situation.
• Investment/Rental Property: Depending on the number of properties you have, your advisor will review with you the various appropriate options. We have clients who have investment properties in one LLC, and clients who have a separate LLC for each property. Ask your advisors what is best for you.

Once you have determined what is best for you, feel free to contact us to assist you with the deed to transfer your real estate holding into the appropriate entity(ies) which your advisors recommend. We often conference with our clients and their advisors so that a comprehensive approach is designed.