Land trusts and refi's

General Real Estate Investing
1

Hello all, this is my first post. I would not call myself a newbie, but on certain subjects I am clueless.

In the past I bought all my properties placing the deeds into land trusts.
This was done for many reasons, but the main reason was in order to show a 90 day seasoning of the deed on a flip to an FHA buyer.

My question is this my last rehab flip did not sell and will not sell in this market. The property now has a long term tenant, the underlying financing is an interest only line of credit.

Now that this property is a long term hold, I need permanent financing, which is no problem acquiring.

The lender however wants the property brought out of the trust in order to provide financing. I could go with a commercial loan and this would not be a problem, but a commercial loan has a higher interest rate and only a 7 year term.

I have been offered 5.5% fixed at 15 years by a loan company, but again they want the property out of the trust.

Does anyone know if this will trigger real estate transfer taxes?
I am in Philadelphia, PA the taxes would be 6%, of which I paid before when the trust was originally settled.

2

No transfer taxes are due if the grantor and beneficiary are the same person. If you used an LLC in the mix, PA will whack you with the taxes. If you change the ownership of the LLC too much, PA will also whack you with the transfer taxes.

3

Thanks for the reply, I found out today it is really all up to the title company. The trust documents will never be seen by the taxing authorities.
I don’t plan on returning this property to the trust, the trust is no longer needed, as I don’t plan on selling it in the near future.

I am not so sure that hiding the ownership of a property is really possible anymore, at least with a land trust. The trust gives no asset protection either.
In my opinion, a large umbrella insurance policy is a better asset protection tool.

I have owned properties in LLC’s, Land Trusts, as well as personally, I have never been sued above my insurance limits in any entity to date.

Any decent lawyer worth his spit will find the identities of the beneficiaries of the Land Trust in short order, if there is money to be had.

4

So true.