land trusts

mobile home university
1

I attended the MHM6 seminar in Austin and also bought Mark Warda’s book on land trusts. I already own a couple of small properties as a private individual and would like to change that into something that would offer a little more insulation from liability.

Do you experienced park owners feel that LLC’s are the way to go, or do you utilize the land trust. The trusts seem a little complicated to me and certainly I do not feel confident trying to use the forms in the back of the book. There was also a sentence in the book that concerned me where it said the trustee might be able to unethically remove the assets from the trust and the beneficiary. Any insights??

Also, in a situation where all of the mobiles in the park are owned by the tennants, where is the best chance of securing liability insurance to protect the park and the park owners. The properties are in Florida if it makes a difference.

Your comments and expertise are really appriciated. Hopefully I will be able to give back at some point after I graduate from the school of hard knocks.

CC

2

CC,

Land trusts are used for privacy - LLC’s for liability. Insurance will be your first line of defense in all cases. For properties you already own it probably is not worth moving them unless you have a lot of equity at risk. If you do move them the LLC would make more sense then the LT - unless you are willing to pay doc stamps on the deed again - but your name is already on title so becoming private now would likely be a waste of money and time.

I can recommend Jay Zandman regarding insurance, his info is on the resources page. Have a chat with your advisors and come up with a plan for your future purchases, then a LT owned by a LLC can be a good way to go - especially in FL.

Good Luck,

Karl