I’ve been listening to several audio/online seminars lately and some of them have mentioned to not sign (contracts) in your own name when working real-estate deals. Mostly for the asset protection aspects. In other words, sign in the name of a business entity. So, how exactly does one sign in the name of the business entity? For example, if my business is Buy The House, Inc., when signing the contract(s), do I sign with the “name” Buy The House? Or do I sign with my personal name, but put Buy The House in all the buyer areas of the contract? What about places with initials? Do I use BTH, Inc.? Or use my own initials?
If you have an incorporated entity, then you sign in whatever your capacity is as an officer of the company. For example, if your business name is “Buy The House, Inc.”, and you are the president of the company, then the signature line on the contract will be
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President of Buy The House, Inc
If your business entity is a member-managed LLC, and if you are empowered by your operating agreement to sign contracts for the business, your signature line could be
dr_white
Member of the Buy The House LLC
In the body of the contract itself, wherever the buyer is named, insert the name of the business entity. Wherever you have to intitial, use your personal initials.
Dave pretty much covered it. I will add that you need to do much more than just sign as an agent in order to achieve any liability shield and it’s a moot point if you are the only active person in the company.