Land Trust will be your friend. Let me explain.

People get into real estate investing for all sorts of reasons, mostly to make money. Some people start out with just one house and maintain it for years, others want to build up an empire to help fund college educations, retirement, and trusts for their children. No matter which route you chose, make sure you follow a plan.

By following the plan step-by-step, you can meet, maintain, and exceed your goals. I’ve been doing this for over 30 years. Not only have I made millions but I’ve helped other people do the same thing. This isn’t a get-rich-quick program. You have to work at it and dedicate yourself to it. But no matter what your goal is, it can be achieved, the Street Smart Way.

By educating yourself on the ins and outs of real estate investing, you can turn your hobby into a business. Once you focus, it will all fall into place. I’m not just a real estate investor, I’m an educator. I can tell you story after story about new investors that did more business than they ever thought was possible. I’ve had college students come to my class and end up dropping out of college and making a go of real estate investing. Oh, the parents weren’t happy at the time but now, a few years later, the parents are actually taking the classes and working FOR their children.

Now, I know there are other people out there who teach real estate investing, but do they really compare to what I’m sharing with you?

There are some stark differences between what others teach and believe to be true about real estate and the Street Smart way. For example:

• You don’t ever have to go to the bank and qualify for a loan to be a real estate investor.
• There are a limitless number of people who want to sell their houses to you.
• There are a limitless number of people who want to buy houses from you.
• There are plenty of deals within a few miles of where you live.
• Regardless of your background or experience, real estate can work for you.
• You can create a business buying and selling homes monthly if you choose.
• You can create a business that not only helps you and your family but impacts the lives of your seller and your buyers in a very positive way.

That’s the real bottom line. If you follow my plan, you will be able to help people when you buy and help people when you sell. By building your business on a foundation of integrity you will be blessed beyond your wildest dreams.

Once you commit to this business, you need to learn how to protect yourself and your family. What’s the point in making all this money if someone can swoop in and take it all from you? You need asset protection and the best way to do this is by incorporating yourself.

The most important thing incorporating does is separate you, the person, from you, the real estate empire. In other words, you, the person, and the homes you own, the real estate you own for your own personal use, your personal savings and banking accounts—they cannot be touched by someone who decides to sue your business.

I’m not saying that will happen, but let’s say you’re rehabbing a property and something goes wrong and someone gets injured and decides to make it their retirement plan… you do NOT want to lose your personal property and savings to someone or some circumstance like that. By incorporating, you have a business entity that has its own bank accounts, its own insurance, and its own set of protections…and most importantly, it’s completely separate from you. What the business does or what happens to the business cannot affect your personal wealth. You cannot use your corporation for fraudulent activity, or all of those protections go out the window (think Enron).

Incorporating your business may sound intimidating, but it’s really not that difficult to do. There are some simple steps you need to follow, like applying for a tax identification number (you can do it online and get the number immediately). You need the tax ID number to open a bank account.

There are other factors to consider when incorporating:

• Which state to choose – you can choose any state
• What type of corporation – LLC, C-Corp, S-Corp, etc
• When is the best time – the sooner the better

The Street Smart System takes incorporating a step further that offers added benefits you cannot get from a corporation or an LLC. It’s called a land trust. It can do things that corporations or LLC’s can’t do. For example, it can avoid probate. That’s the process where the courts take the property of the dead person and gives it to the rightful living heirs. Done right a trust does that for you, eliminating the cost, delay and confusion of probate. But that is just one of the over 30 benefits of trusts I’ve discovered that can’t be delivered well by the other entities we’ve discussed. Combined they become a killer strategy for asset protection, privacy, estate planning, tax savings and more.

So, no matter where you are in your real estate investing career or what level you want to take it to, you can achieve your goals and desires with the Street Smart System. If you want to have just one house and use that income for extra spending money or if you want to become the next Donald Trump, you can with me on your side.

In my next article – the final article of the series – I’ll explain other methods you can use to grow your business.

Here’s to your success!

Lou Brown
The Street Smart Investor