WARNING : The San Francisco Chronicle has published a map showing who owns every property in the Bay Area of the state of California .
Do YOU want everyone in the Bay Area AND the world to know what you own AND where you live ? Can you imagine what a contingency fee lawyer could do with this information ? What about a tenant that you are evicting ? Or a tenant behind on their rent that you are threatening eviction ? How about a mentally unstable past relationship ? The risks are endless and unnecessary . How do you solve this problem ?
You need privacy of ownership whether the property is your personal residence or rental property . You can easily put the title to your property in a Grantor Revocable Trust ( often referred to as a Land Trust ). Use a land trust to avoid people “ looking you up ” in the public records . Most real estate investors ( and even some plain ole homeowners ) do NOT want the community to look them up in the public records . Nor do investors want their tenants to find out their home address . Public knowledge of your real estate holdings exposes you to 1 ) contingency fee lawyers looking to make a quick buck suing you 2 ) tenants wanting to get revenge 3 ) weirdos stalking women who hold title in their name 4 ) other investors “ tracking ” your activity .
All the scenarios mentioned can be resolved with a Land Trust / Title Holding Trust .
Here are some more of the many reasons to use a Trust to hold title to your real estate :
Reason # 1 : You have an opportunity to invest with someone you do not know very well . An acquaintance or a distant family member might approach you with an investing opportunity . The deal is attractive , but you do not have a history with this person .
( Even if you do have a long , positive history with them , you will still want to use a Land Trust ! Land Trusts reduce many of the most common investing risks .)
DO NOT OWN REAL ESTATE IN YOUR NAME !
The San Francisco Chronicle has published a map showing who owns every property in the Bay Area of the state of California . Their map contains the owner ’ s information on over two million properties in nine of the Bay Area ’ s counties . With a search engine of entering addresses or clicking on a property dot , your information is now available to the public . If this doesn ’ t bother you , it should .
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