By Bill Bronchick

There are over 80 million lawsuits filed every year in the United States. Landlords and real estate investors are especially susceptible to liability. Are you a target? Are your assets easy to locate? Is your real estate titled in your name?

You wouldn’t walk around with a financial statement taped to your forehead would you? So why would you have your most valuable assets exposed to public scrutiny? Anyone can go down to the county courthouse or recorder’s office and look up the owner of any property. Real estate records are now computerized, so all of your real estate holdings can be located at the touch of a button!

Any mortgages on your property will be recorded as well. Most recorded mortgages will state the amount of the original principal balance and the date the mortgage payments began. All one has to do is figure out the balance of your mortgage and subtract that amount from the market value of your house. Bingo! Now they know how much equity you have and hence whether suing you is worthwhile.
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This article was re-printed from the Denver Post, dated July 13, 2008 by Tom LaRoque.

Landlords incur risks from all sides. They are often seen as wealthy, particularly by the people who write them monthly checks. Their tenants have ample opportunity to develop grievances, real or invented.

The risks call for self-protection, said lawyer William Bronchick. Among all professions, landlords face the greatest threat of being sued, he said.

An active real estate investor and president of the Colorado Association of Real Estate Investors, Bronchick sells do-it-yourself software to help savvy property owners protect themselves with the right legal structure. It is one of several products sold for that purpose.

The right legal structure, he said, often includes a land trust. Such an agreement allows one party, called the trustee, to hold ownership of property for the benefit of another, called the beneficiary.
Land trusts offer several advantages to property owners under the broad headings of privacy, protection from liability, and tax minimization, according to Bronchick.
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