I did a search for my name, and one of those internet companies pop up asking if I want to know the background, marriages, assets, etc. for $39 to $79.
I was surprised to find my name there when I thought I was protected by putting my property in an LLC and then a Land Trust. How can one avoid being searched by the public. I’m a realtor and it seems like everyone looks to see if I have property, and they somehow seem to speak freely with me about my property in another state. It seems like it is common place to look at someone’s background and see if they own property - whether you date, have a new friend or anything.
Try searching your name and see what pops up. It had ALL my previous addresses, my age, and that was without paying - it’s just out there for everyone to know. Even my current address. How can we erase all this free info to the public? Anyone know?
Welcome to the 21st century. You leave a trail of information, all public, when you move, get a phone number or a driver license. That’s all whitepages is doing, searching a vast database of this information and returning any hits with your name.
I learned at a Rich Dad seminar that if you want total annonimity, you need to go to Nevada for a corporation or llc. Also a good state for a trust (but I learned that from working in a bank trust dept (NY)).
It was inferred that Nevada was heavily influenced by the Mafia and that they have enough influence over the state government that they can insure that identities are not divulged!
It also comes to mind if you have used a name for your company, don’t use the same name if you decide to file in Nevada because that will lead a trail right back to you!
I just bought a book called “How To Be Invisible” by J J Luna. Has some great tips but most are not practical if you want to be a normal member of society. He outlines several levels of privacy. None of them are easy, but they may be worth it for you.
It is a very detailed book and I’m glad I bought it whether I ever apply the lessons in it.
How exactly do you have it setup? My understanding is that every property you have needs to be assigned to its own brand new land trust. And then the LLC can be the beneficiary of the land trusts.
And I’m thinking that only the trustee name is public in this case, not the beneficiary of the land trust. But I’m not sure.
the trustee holds title to the property on behalf of the trust; thus their name appears in the public record, the beneficaries do not. whether or not people can figure out if you are connected to the property depends to some extant how you conduct the purchase transaction, etc.
these days everyone shares information with everyone else.
Officer in an LLC? Your name appears on documents. Have a checking account? You are authorized to sign checks. Bought a piece of property? Your name is all over the place.
Having an LLC in NV does nothing (in the real world where I live).
Want anonymity? Sell your house, move to Montana, give up banking and credit cards, public utilities, car loans, and tax returns.
As jharris mentions above, Luna’s book has some good info. Forget the Nevada LLC, use his info in the book and get one from New Mexico. You can buy property and have it vested in the LLC as trustee of a trust and your name will not appear connected to the property. Of course you may have to pay all cash (as Luna did) for your residence… bit of a drawback there for most of us. Checking accounts, credit cards - make sure your mailing address is a mail drop or PO Box. Put your car registration in your LLC. When you do use your name use middle name in place of first name. You may not quite be able to disappear, but you can certainly obfuscate things a bit.
You can put each property in a Land trust and have diiferent Trustees. Then if someone finds a known property then they can find all the others. If your sued and lose then you will be called into court, placed under oth to testify all of your assets. So from a legal stand point there is no reason for total ananimity.
You have to buy in the name of the trust to keep your name off the ownership roles. Set up a mailbox service to get your mail/packages and use your personal residence address only when required by law. Get rid of your landline phone.
Zabasearch culls public motor vehicles records and is a great way to get an address for free. Many PIs are starting to offer a service that finds abandoned property owners for investors interested in obtaining the property. Keep in mind that any good investigator is going to find the true owner and any good lawyer who sues will get copies of the LLC operating agreement, trust documents, and corporate records as part of discovery. Privacy is not an effective protection means.