My History:
In 1985, one year after I began investing in real estate buying, rehabbing, and holding houses in a little town named Englewood, Florida, I ran into trouble with my renters. When I tried to collect rents from many of them who were not paying, it became obvious that I needed legal protection. Why? Because I owned all my properties as an individual. What that meant was I was at risk with everything I owned. Basically, if I went to court and lost by some creative lawyer, I could have ended up with a money judgment. And as an individual in everything I owned, whether personal or business, all my assets could be attached.
So I began researching for a way to protect myself. I knew I had to separate myself from my assets, especially if I was personally sued. So I started looking into Corporations (C and S), LLCs weren’t really an understood option at that time, etc. I learned the IRS could pierce the Corporate veil under special circumstances. Getting desperate by the second, I noticed a book on Land Trusts in a drugstore. Unsuspecting, this was my answer.
It was the 1st edition and written my Mark Warda, a Florida attorney. I got excited and bought the book, then after reading it cover to cover, I started researching everything I could about its history. One interesting fact that was Walt Disney purchased all his land to develop Disney World in Florida by using the secrecy it offered. Since he bought many, many properties at different times, it wouldn’t be wise to let the public know he was buying land as land values would soar.
Therefore, I transferred every property I had from me as an individual to me as a trustee as quick as I could. But then, on my next new purchase, I tried to buy a property in a trust; but the title company and their underwriters acted like it was some kind of hoax. So I called Mark Warda and told him of my dilemma. Over the next six months, Mark and I worked with some of the largest insurance underwriters for title companies in many cities in Florida and throughout some Midwestern states; by educating them, we finally got approval. Today, properties owned by Land Trusts in every state in the country are common and for good reason.