Realty411 Magazine Featuring Patty Arvielo - New American Funding | Page 74

WELCOME
She Was Mad as Hell, and
Came Looking for the Owner
Randy Hughes explains how
real estate investors benefit
from the use of land trusts.
A
s landlords we sometimes have to do hard
things. Evicting a tenant for non-payment
of rent is perhaps the worst. But, if a
tenant refuses to pay their rent, or violates
their lease terms they will face eviction. There can be
other reasons to get rid of a tenant. Case-in-point.
I control a group of condos located on a corner in my
town. Of course, each condo is titled in a separate
land trust for privacy of ownership and asset protec-
tion.
Last summer we had a large number of police
calls to the condominium complex. Upon further
investigation, we determined that one female resident
was always involved in the “trouble making.” So,
when this trouble-making tenant’s lease came up for
renewal we told her we would not renew her lease.
The trouble-making tenant asked why we would
not renew and we told her, “because the owner told
us not to renew.” She got mad, but realized that we
were merely the property management company and
we were just taking orders from the owner. She went
on to ask who the owner was and we said we could
not tell her that per our contract with the owner.
Three days later I received a phone call from my
attorney’s secretary. She said there was a woman
in their reception area demanding to speak to my
attorney about her lease. The irate tenant had looked
up the “owner” of her condo online and found my
attorney’s name. Then, she looked up my attorney’s
office address in the phone book and marched down
to his office to confront him.
Realty411Guide.com

Hopefully by now you are beginning to understand the
benefit of NOT owning real estate in your name person-
ally.
Let me back up here and explain something I do to
add another layer of asset protection. Sometimes when
I initially purchase a property I make my attorney the
trustee, for one day. This technique puts the title of
record in my attorney’s name, but I immediately fire
my attorney as Trustee and hire an out-of-state Trustee.
This way the public record shows my attorney as the
“owner” even though he is not.
I told my attorney’s secretary to tell the tenant to
leave the premises and if she did not do so voluntarily,
call the police!
This real life story exemplifies the hazards of own-
ing rental real estate. There can be life and death safety
issues relating to associated with the landlord-tenant re-
lationship. Some tenants can get violent when it comes
to their housing, and you need to protect yourself and
your family from the dangers.
Just imagine if you are evicting a tenant and they
can find your address in the phone book or online and
they show up at your house with your ten-year-old
daughter answering the door. >>
PAGE 74 • 2017
Continued on page 80

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