Diane Kennedy
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- Aug 31, 2007
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My friend and I are building a vacation rental business. We have an LLC for the management side of the business. My friend owns the cabins and purchased them in her (and her husbands) name. We think that we know that we would like to move these properties into each of their own LLC's, as we have learned that this is what we should have done in the first place.
What is the easiest way to move property from personal ownership into a new LLC? And not run into additional costs?
First of all, I have to give a disclaimer that I'm not seeing all of the information for your personal situation and so this can't be relied on for tax advice. Additionally, I'm not a lawyer and so can not give legal advice.
The most direct way to accomplish what you want is to contact the lender (or rather your friend does so), ask to speak to the legal department and then tell them that for estate planning purposes you want to transfer personally held property into an LLC. The answer will be "yes" if the question is asked correctly. If you get "no" you're not talking to the right person.
Once the mortgage company says "yes" do a title transfer (NOT a quit claim deed...NEVER a quit claim deed) to the LLC. Then have the LLC sell or trade a membership interest to you. (Not sure how the financial piece is working out in your particular case, so the exact plan might vary for you)
If you were starting from the beginning, I'd probably have recommended a TIC (tenants-in-common) ownership with each of you holding your own interest within your personal LLC. That way you get the asset protection PLUS the ability to do separate Sec. 1031 exchanges down the road.
I know there were lots of legal and real estate terms in that explanation, please let me know if you need definitions or further examples on any of this. We're in my briar patch now.... (Remember Brer Rabbit?)