land trust Archives - Real Estate Investing in Florida

Land Trusts

In this episode we discuss land trusts with Mac McWhirter, executive director of WorldWide Trustee Services LLC. And we explore the many advantages land trusts have to offer. Some of the main advantages are privacy of ownership (anonymity) and the possible avoidance of a probate. A land trust can also help protect against judgments and liens, facilitate estate planning, prevent land partition, and ease real estate title transfer. And Florida is one of the best states to hold title in a land trust!

Mac also discusses some potential disadvantages of land trusts such as the false belief that the trust protects property owners from all liability. The other key thing to realize is that, even though there is anonymity for the property owner, a court can order full disclosure of property owners for certain civil and criminal complaints.

Key Discussion Points

[07:52] How did you get into land trusts?

[08:51] What problems does a land trust solve?

[10:26] Does a land trust work like an LLC?

[11:49] Can somebody still file a lien against a property owned by a land trust?

[16:23] What are some of the downsides to land trusts?

[17:28] What are the tax consequences of a land trust?

[19:10] If something happens to the land trust owner, how will the property continue to get transacted properly?

[20:22] What are the costs for an investor compared to an LLC?

[21:47] What are the typical land trust fees?

[22:36] What are the typical land trust fees?

[23:45] Is Florida a good state to hold title in a land trust?

[24:43] Does a land trust have to be a single entity beneficiary or can it be a partnership?

[29:01] Closing remarks by Eric and Steven

About Our Guest

Mac McWhirter is the executive director of WorldWide Trustee Services LLC based in Tampa, Florida. Mac was previously a real estate investor buying, rehabbing, and then selling real estate. In 2008 he started WorldWide Trustee Services in order to respond to a need for land trust services by investors.

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The sob-stories; the hard-luck-tales; the down-and-out pleas. There are many reasons tenants might ply a landlord for a special leniency or exemption. Whether these are legitimate reasons or or not, landlords and property managers can end up assuming a lot of extra stress on a property by allowing tenants to take advantage of a situation through emotion. Sometimes, the hardest thing for investors who manage their own properties to do is tell their tenant “no”. It is easy to put yourself in someone else’s shoes, but at what point can empathy hurt your investment? Real estate investors need to know how to keep tenant turmoil at arm’s length when it comes to the viability of an investment.

Adrian Smude may know better than any the importance of managing interaction with tenants. As an investor in single family residential properties in and around Plant City, FL, Adrian has experienced the short-comings of allowing tenants unchecked leniency. Adrian’s start in single family residential investing stems from an unpleasant tenant/landlord experience: eviction. After being evicted from a rental house in college, Adrian ended up purchasing his own single family property and converted into a multi-tenant rental. Wary of the poor experience he had as a tenant, Adrian opted towards a more empathetic approach to landlording. Eventually, he found his tenants abusing their privilege. Adrian had to find a way to separate himself from thinking like a tenant and more as a landlord. Adrian adopted a system that put distance between himself and his tenants while avoiding the hard-line approach. Join us for the first episode of “Landlord Tales” as we discuss holding rental properties in a land trust.

Land Trust
- Property placed in name of land trust. Property owners can designate themselves as trustee, separate from beneficiary
- Managing property and tenants becomes easier by separating function as landlord from property owner
- Adrian learned this method from veteran local investors Jack Shea, Larry Harbolt and Mike Warda

Adrian is actively in the market for single family residential properties and mobile homes of up to $120k in areas around Hillsborough County and Polk County, including Brandon, Plant City, Lakeland and Winter Haven. If you believe you may have a potential investment opportunity, contact Adrian at (813) 720-7874.