You’ve been served.
Those are scary words for a real estate investor, but the truth is that you are likely to face a lawsuit at some point in your career—take it from me. So how do you keep your assets safe and protect yourself from frivolous litigation?
Scott Smith is an attorney as well as a real estate investor. His firm, Royal Legal Solutions, provides business, tax and legal solutions geared exclusively for real estate investors. Scott has eight years of experience deconstructing the industry, and asset protection is his specialty.
Today Scott covers the statistics around lawsuits in the real estate investing space, explaining his ‘if, not when’ approach to protecting yourself as a real estate investor. He shares case studies of investors who were not protected and walks us through the benefits of hiding and isolating your assets. Scott offers his best strategies, including separating operations from ownership, removing equity from your properties, and doing your due diligence—every single time. Listen in and learn how to leverage a series LLC structure in combination with a land trust to remain anonymous and compartmentalize your assets, making you less susceptible to litigation.
Key Takeaways
The focus of Royal Legal Solutions
- Help real estate investors protect, hide assets
- Keep retirement, assets safe
The likelihood you will be sued as a real estate investor
- Most litigated industry in US
- 3-8% sued every year
- Almost guaranteed lawsuit during lifetime
The potential outcomes of a lawsuit
- Prevent by hiding, isolating so client looks unattractive
- Let insurance company’s lawyers bully into low settlement
- Insurance only covers negligence (nothing else)
Scott’s strategies for protecting real estate investors
- Transfer properties into asset holding company
- Separate operations from ownership
The level of effort required to open and maintain multiple LLCs
- Only need one operating company, one asset company
- Asset holding company can employ series LLC structure
- Infinite scalability
- Compartmentalization of every asset
- Cost to expand goes to zero
- Move property into land trust (can’t be traced back to you)
- Creates doubt in mind whether you still own property
Scott’s best advice for real estate investors
- Separate assets from operations
- Remove equity from property
Scott’s call-to-action for protecting your assets
- Remove your name from assets
- Be sure you’re well-insured
- Do your due diligence every time
Connect with Scott
Email [email protected]
Call 512-757-3994
10 Ways to Protect Your Real Estate Investments
Resources
Free eBook: The Secret to Raising Money to Buy Your First Apartment Building
