Help me not to make a mistake...

I want to thank you upfront for all the replies. You guys a great help.

My investment carrear started just last year. Being underpaid graduate student I had to spend almost 50% of my income on rental. I was sick of this and decided to become home owner no matter what. I had more faith than money and no knovledge of REI issues at all.

Nevertheless we bought an old victorian 3 story building that was used as a rental 4-plex. The house had some fire damage and we got it for just $16k. Took us 10 months to be able to move in and right now it’s almost finished 3-plex. I’ve learnt a lot during the process and decided to make REI my second carrer. Right now I have this house that’s worth about $110k and no mortage and I feel like I’m ready to take next steps and buy one or two more properties this year.

The question is: go ahead and continue buying on my own name or try to establish some legal entity to protect myself from the beggining?
To make matters more complicated I’m a forign national with legal (student) residence in a proces of obtaining a green card.

I appreciate all the comments and advices.

LLC for asset protection.

Search thru other posts for more explanation. This is a common question.

Mark Wagner, CPA