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Are There Too Many Lawyers in the United States?

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By Randy Hughes, Mr. Land Trust

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said, “…there are too many lawyers in the United States…” He went on to say, “I do not mean to criticize lawyers, just the need for so many lawyers. Lawyers do not dig ditches or build buildings. When a society requires such a large number of its best minds to conduct the unproductive enterprise of the law, something is wrong with the legal system.”

Something is definitely wrong with our legal system and everyone in America knows it. What does this have to do with real estate and using Land Trusts to hold title to investment real estate… a lot. I think that lawyers serve a valuable service to our society. In fact, I use a lawyer in every one of my real estate transactions (to protect my interest with an insured closing). But, Justice Scalia has a point.

Some say that there are more lawyers in law school right now than current practicing attorneys. And that the United States has 95% of the lawyers in the world! The Illinois Bar Journal says that over the next ten years the USA will graduate 60% more lawyers than there will be legal jobs available to them.  How are all these multitude of lawyers going to make a living?

I predict that lawyers are going to find new and creative ways of suing people like us (real estate investors). After all, real estate investors hold title to hard assets. Lawyers want to know that they can collect after winning a lawsuit against someone. Therefore, real estate investors that hold title to their investments in their own name are easy prey for the contingency fee lawyer.

Legal theory has progressed exponentially in the last few years. Who would ever think that a business owner would be sued because a burglar sustained injury while breaking into the owner’s business? Or that a manufacturer would be sued because he failed to warn a consumer not to drink battery acid? Or that a real estate owner would be responsible for dog bite on his property (the dog was not the property owner’s or his tenant’s dog and the person bit was not the property owner’s tenant).

With the legal system reeling out of control it would behoove you to find a way to avoid being a target. The best way to avoid lawsuits is to have no assets (or at least appear to have no assets). Keep a low profile and don’t own ANYTHING in your own personal name (especially not real estate)!

Lawyers did not get through law school by being stupid. Any good lawyer (when deciding whether to take on a new case) will investigate the assets of the proposed defendant. A smart lawyer will only take on cases that he/she feels confident that he/she can win AND COLLECT ON! Therefore, one of the first steps a lawyer takes prior to filing a lawsuit is to check the public records to see if the potential defendant has any “hard assets” (i.e. real estate).

So, your first line of defense is privacy of ownership. And, if you are a smart real estate investor, the least expensive form of privacy is the use of a Trust to hold title to your investments. Please learn all you can about Land Trusts and how to use them. You will be glad you did!

Randy Hughes, Mr. Land Trust

If you want to learn more about the wonderful world of trusts, please go to: www.landtrustsmadesimple.com for more information. Or, if you would like to attend one of my FREE Land Trust Webinars, go to: www.landtrustwebinar.com/411 Also, feel free to call me with any questions. I actually answer my phone! 1-866-696-7347

Personal Property vs. Real Property

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By Randy Hughes

It is fascinating to me that real estate starts out as personal property (boxes of ceiling tile, carpet, lumber, etc.) and once it is assembled it becomes real estate. Then, when we place the property into a Land Trust, it again becomes personal property to the beneficiary of the trust. Why is this important? Real estate laws and personal property laws are different. As all of my students know by now, the beneficial interest in a land trust is personal property and there are significant advantages to this truth.

When a piece of real estate is held in a Land Trust and the beneficiary sells the beneficial interest this is a non-recorded transaction. It is completely private and off the radar screen of tax assessors, lenders, transfer tax revenuers and in some states (i.e. CA) sales tax withholding requirements. You even by-pass the Form 1099 requirement (you still must pay any taxes due eventually).

Once transferring property into a Land Trust, the Deed in Trust must include language that makes it clear that the beneficial interest in the trust is personal property. Likewise, the Land Trust Agreement should state that the beneficiary shall have no rights or interest in either the legal or equitable title to the property. The beneficiary’s sole interests are to the rights of management, control, operation and to the receipt of proceeds from rents, mortgage financing, sales and exchanges.

Most rental real estate investors make the beneficiary of their Land Trusts an LLC or corporation (for additional asset protection). When an entity holds a beneficial interest, it should make sure not to lose its legal standing in the state it was formed. Not keeping the LLC or corporate up-to-date (e.g, paying the annual franchise fees and state taxes), effectively causes the beneficiary to lose the rights to the beneficial interest. This is another good reason to designate Successor Beneficiaries even if your initial beneficiary is an entity.

After 46 years of investing in real estate and being a landlord, I can attest to the many benefits of using a trust to hold title instead your name personally. There are only risks and no rewards to owning real estate in your name. Crazy things happen in the real estate business and if you intend to succeed long term you must learn how to protect your hard-earned assets. The least expensive and easiest way to begin your asset protection plan is by using a trust to hold title. Be a smart investor, use a trust!

I encourage you to learn more by going to my FREE online training at: www.landtrustwebinar.com/411  or text “reasons” to 206-203-2005 for my free booklet, “Reasons to Use a Land Trust.” You can also reach me the old fashion way by calling me at 866-696-7347 (I actually answer my own phone unlike most other businesses in America).

 

 

Trust Strategies

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By Randy Hughes

After using Land Trusts to hold title to my real estate, contracts and notes for the last 40 years, I have discovered that 99% of the population does not understand the nature of a Land Trust nor the many benefits that can be derived. I consider this good news.

Because of their low profile, Land Trusts are very useful for (off the radar) real estate transactions. The following ideas are merely suggestions that you might consider. Be careful to think through all the ramifications before engaging in these concepts.

If you want to borrow money conventionally and you will use a deed to real estate as collateral for the loan, you will have to give the lender the full deed. In other words, you cannot divide a deed up into pieces no matter how much you are borrowing. For example, if you owned a parcel of real estate in your own personal name (your name is on the deed), with $100,000 of equity and you wanted to borrow only $20,000, you would have to collateralize that deed in full. In other words, you would have to give $100,000 of equity to secure only a $10,000 loan.

The Land Trust can be used to solve the problem of over-collateralizing a loan. The beneficial interest of a Land Trust can be divided into unlimited shares. Therefore, a Land Trust holding a piece of real estate with $100,000 of equity could use some of its shares (but not all of its shares as is required by a personally held deed) as collateral for a $10,000 loan. With a share value of $1,000 there would be 100 shares.

The beneficiary of the Land Trust could “temporarily assign” 10 shares for a $10,000 loan. This would leave 90 shares unencumbered that could be used for future financing. The flexibility of using a Land Trust far exceeds the standard method of title holding.

In another scenario, assume that two real estate investors have owned their properties (of similar current market value) inside Land Trusts for 30 years. Both investors are “out” of depreciation. Neither investor wants to conventionally sell their properties and incur huge capital gains.

Once again, the Land Trust trots in for the rescue. Each investor (beneficiary of the land trust) sells the beneficial interest to the other on an installment sales agreement. The terms are nothing down, interest only (no capital gain to report) and a ten-year balloon (enough time to figure out what to do next).

What this transaction accomplishes is a new amortization schedule for each investor (new basis). The deal is private and flies under the assessor’s radar (no reassessment upon the “sale”) and no transfer tax is triggered. If the parties involved so desire they can hold options to buy the beneficial interests back after (or during) the ten years has lapsed.

If you don’t think this will work, look up and read the tax court decisions on; Weaver, 71 TC No. 42. 1978; Rushing CA-5, 441 F.2d 593, 1971 and Pityo, 70 TC No. 21 1978.

The key to taking advantage of these creative ideas is finding someone who will “play.” Of course, my mind wonders to people who have studied my Land Trusts Made Simple® home study course or taken one of my live seminars. It is those who understand how the “game is played” that benefit you the most. I encourage you to seek out other “players” like yourself…it will benefit you greatly.

There are many other similar structures that I discuss in detail in my Land Trusts Made Simple® home study courses. Please go to: www.landtrustsmadesimple.com for more information. Or, if you would like to attend one of my FREE Land Trust Webinars, go to: www.landtrustwebinar.com/411 Also, feel free to call me with any questions. I actually answer my phone! 1-866-696-7347