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Protecting Your Assets as an Investor


Here’s what you can do to protect yourself from a potential lawsuit.

If you’re an investor and own multiple properties, how do you protect yourself from a potential lawsuit? Here are four tips to limit your liability:

1. Be honorable and ethical. Treat your tenants honestly and make sure they’re taken care of. Being upfront with them goes a long way. Make sure your contracts are signed properly, the deposits are returned in a timely manner, and anything that needs to be fixed in your units is done so immediately. Simply knowing your tenants elevates your relationship with them to a richer level and can potentially protect you from being sued.

2. Set up an LLC (or multiple LLCs). I, for instance, have seven properties that are owned as part of LLCs. You can assign two properties per LLC, or assign them up to a certain value amount. This way, if you’re sued for one property, an established LLC will act as a legal veil that protects your assets.

There’s always the potential to lose your business assets, but your family needs to be taken care of first.

3. Set up a HELOC. A home equity line of credit ensures that you’ll have cash reserves if you need to hire legal counsel. If you don’t need them, then no harm, no foul—you’re not paying any interest on them.

4. Set up an umbrella policy with your insurance broker. This way, you can increase the insurance that will cover specific things related to the property. Your insurance company will cover you in case there’s an accident, and you can make sure your property is well-secured.

If you do get sued, it’s imperative that you protect your family. There’s always the potential to lose your business assets, but your family needs to be taken care of first. You can always buy real estate again, but it’s more important to have enough money set aside to take care of your family while the lawsuit proceeds, so have some money saved up or a mortgage that’s paid off for yourself.

If you were found guilty and needed to pay restitution, you’ll obviously want to pay what you can. During this process, though, you can set up a self-directed IRA or Roth IRA to put some money aside for the future that the tenant can’t touch.

If you have questions about protecting your assets or there’s anything else I can assist you with, feel free to call, text, or email me. I’d love to speak with you.
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Location: Mission Viejo, CA, USA

Q: How Should You Prepare Your Home for Sale?


Home preparation has to start somewhere; here are top my five suggestions.

Preparing your home for sale seems simple at first, but can soon unfurl into a daunting campaign. Like most things, home prep becomes easier once you know what to focus on. Here are the top five things you should do as a soon-to-be home seller:
  1. Have a consultation with your Realtor. I love to meet with a potential client to discuss some of their goals, establish a practical time frame for each step in the process, and share what sort of approaches we can implement to maximize their sale. 
  2. Tackle home improvements. If you’ve lived in your home for 10 years or more, you’ll more likely need to tackle some problem areas. Today’s buyers are savvy when it comes to scoping out a home; they’ll leave no stone unturned, so we need to make sure any issues to the front, back, and inside get addressed beforehand.  Whatever we can do to make the home more turnkey ready will be worthwhile.  
  3. Make sure the home is decluttered. Before we can have photos taken, your home needs to be clean and photo-ready. I know everyone likes to think they always keep their home presentable, but selling is a different ball game; your home has to look like a model home—cleared out, clean, and minimally (yet tastefully) furnished. I suggest getting a few boxes and mark some for donation, trash, and the rest for storage. If you declutter thoroughly, you will get the highest value for your home.  
  4. Improve curb appeal. Now, I’ve already addressed a lot of this topic in a previous video, but here’s a quick recap of things that go a long way for a home’s exterior: power washing the driveway; planting new flowers and weeding the garden; painting your front door; trimming lawn edges and shrubbery; and laying fresh mulch.  
  5. Professionally stage the home. I have a couple of professional designers that come in and help us stage the property. So if you don’t have furniture that’s necessarily in the best shape, we can actually rent chic items and arrange them in the most conducive way for pictures. We could also just move your furniture around to maximize lighting and make each room appear larger. If you want your staging prepaid, we can deduct that money from the escrow at the end of the sale (this financing option also applies for any of the aforementioned projects if you don’t have the money to get them done yourself).

I hope this list provided you with a better sense of direction as a seller. If you have any questions, reach out to me via phone or email. I’m happy to answer your questions, refer you to great resources, or schedule that initial consultation with you.
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Location: Mission Viejo, CA, USA
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