Protect Your Twin Cities Duplex Through An LLC

One of the concerns multi-family property investors often have is how to protect themselves in the event a tenant suffers an injury on one of their properties. Namely, how can he or she protect their real estate portfolio?

A relatively easy way to do this is to form a Limited Liability Company or LLC, and either take title or, via a quit claim deed, change the ownership of the property to the LLC.

An LLC is often suitable for single owner or smaller companies. It is a hybrid between a partnership and a corporation, except that it is often more flexible. One of the advantages of an LLC, is the owners have limited liability for the actions and debts of the company.

The process of establishing an LLC is relatively easy and inexpensive. It is created by filing the Articles of Organization with the Secretary of State, for which the state charges a filing fee. This is something you can do yourself, or if you’d rather, you can enlist the help of a real estate attorney.

If you create a unique LLC for each property in your portfolio, then each is owned by a separate company. Each should have its own checking account and bookkeeping. This helps establish a record of it truly being a separate entity.

That way, in the event someone is injured on one property, and they are successful in litigation, the only property in play is the one owned by that LLC.