Protection/Anonymity

Well that IS a very apt question. Let me see if I can help. First of all to really disappear behind the corporate cloke a Sub-Chapter S corporation would probably do the trick. You have to set up a board and corporate minutes and everything else but you can place in those positions and name you deemed necessary as long as they were over 18. Which means you can get a fictitious name license from th city ex: Jeff Jones d/b/a Michael McCormick. You can then legally sign official docs as your fictitious personality. This will allow for Anonymity but any GOOD lawyer could still find out who you were but also list your actual self as agent for corporation then your appearance at these place like viewing and such would not be questioned.
Please don't take this as legal advice but I happen to know that this is an actual process that lots of "corps" use. Look into the sub-chapter S Corp and all that it entails.

Let's say that you own a personal residence and two rental properties. If you own them all in your name and a tenant in one of them slips and falls then all the lawyer has to do is a search on your name and all 3 come up.

If they are owned in trust or in the of your LLC then NONE of them come up.

That is one point.

Another point is that you can honestly say that you own NO real estate. This will fly under penalty of perjury.

The reality is that any lawyer who isn't a dope is also going to ask if you own any companies that own RE or if you are the benificiary of a trust that owns RE. And they WILL try to pierce the corporate veil.

So if you get into court, it's ALWAYS a crapshoot..

So while you can operate under a cloak for the most part if you do get into a situation where a lawsuit arises (esp. w/ a good lawyer on the other side) anonymity and protection is basically a pipe dream? I don't meant to sound dismal, but that's basically what I've gathered in my research and you two have seemed to confirm that.

Your conclusion is right. But protect yourself in other ways as well. Purchase liability insurance under the trust/corp and do your due diligence.

How important do you think it is to have a registered agent other than yourself?

It is as important as YOU think it is. Since I always like representing myself I have always been my own registered agent, but there have been time with a couple of my other business that I used my attorney, whom was a good friend. It all depends on what works for you.

The Tax Club wanted to do it from their office, but I thought if everything was coming to an out-of-town location it would be a little inconvenient and I wouldn't really feel in control. I really appreciated their call, though. It was a very informative & worthwhile hour to spend. Thanks for the feedback, Anita. I really appreciate all the help you give people. I wish I was more knowledgeable at this point to give a little more. But I'm learning. Thanks again!

I have one its only $50 a year. Also your LLC is public. It can be looked up on your counties website, and it will list the agents name and address! I dont want my name and addy listed.

D

Thanks, D.

And if you do business out of state, most states will not allow you to be your own registered agent (ie you need a physical address in the state.)

Do they just forward your mail, etc. to you? How involved is the registered agent, just a name & address?
Mark, what is your suggestion as to choosing a registered agent outside your state? When you say "do business" you mean if you have an LLC established within another state?

No.. The registered agent only gets involved if your LLC gets sued in that state. They accept service of the lawsuit. That's it. Mostly it's just a way to conform to state law.

If you want mail service, they might do it for you at an added charge. But I think you would better be served just having a box at the UPS Store. That's what I do.

You can google registered agent and the state you do business in. If that is YOUR state and you have a physical address you want to use (NOT a PO Box) then you can be your own registered agent.

When I say do business.... I mean buy or sell or rent property, LO, assigns etc. Basically any RE activity that generates gross income. If you do it under your LLC then you need to be registered in that state. Typically, file a form with the Secretary of State and pay a fee and have the registered agent.

For these reasons, it is typically best to create the LLC in your own state if that is where you will do business. So you dont pay double fees..

BTW.. all of these are things you need to do in order to have a legitimate company ie not doing this means that an attorney has a good chance to pierce the corporate veil.

I've got to get going on the LLC thing. I haven't done anything with it since I got it a couple of weeks ago. You guys have been putting in so much good information. Thank you.

I have another business and my LLC is set up in another state with a registered agent. The registered agent is someone at a physical address in the state where the business is set up in. You must have a physical address for IRS purposes. No mail is accepted by the registered agent other than mail received dealing with the business set up or mail for the state or IRS. Mail from the state and IRS is then forwarded to you. I received one piece of mail from a private sector business that was forwarded to me with a request from the registered agent not to use the registered agent physical address to receive any mail. This mail was not solicited by me, but apparently mt business address was obtained via public records and the spam snail mail was sent.

I will be setting up another LLC for the REI business though because I am doing it in the state of MD. If Title companies do their due diligence and can't locate my LLC in the state of MD(because the LLC is located in another state)they may not go through with the deal.

Also, my RE Attorney advised that even though you can set up multiple businesses under one LLC, that would allow someone to attach earnings from all businesses under that LLC. Example: Have internet businesses and REI business under the same LLC. Get sued for a REI transaction and loose in court. They can snatch earnings from the internet businesses as well as the REI business to pay for the court judgement because there is only one LLC. However, if I create a separate LLC for the REI business and get a court judgement against the REI business, they can only snatch earnings from the REI business LLC and can't touch the other LLC since that is a different business structure.

Hope that info is helpful.