What’s in a Name?

By Randy Hughes

I recently read an article on the internet by Anna Sobrevinas about the names of people who own expensive homes. She said, “These are some of the names of owners of the most valuable homes nationwide, with ‘Stuart’ in the lead with a median home value of $334,022, according to a new research analysis by Zillow. “Alison” follows closely with a median home value of $332,403 and “Peter” with $325,126.

She went on to indicate, “Anne, with a median home value of $309,491, is one of the most common names of owners of the most valuable homes, and they dominate the West Coast. Annes in California have a median home value of $669,946; in Oregon, $387,160; and in Washington; $435,308.”

“This analysis reveals a lot of interesting—fun— differences between homeowner names and the relative popularity of less common or non-traditional homeowner names from region to region,” said Zillow Chief Economist Svenja Gudell.

My view of this data is that if they know the first name of these home owners they also know the last name. In other words, the homeowner has deeded the property into their own personal name as opposed to using a title holding Trust (where their personal name would not show up in the public records).

Owning ANY real estate in your personal name is an invitation to trouble. There are no advantages to owning real estate in a personal name…only disadvantages and risks. Talk to any long term real estate investor and you will hear stories of upset tenants coming to their house late at night or liens from co-title holders destroying their equity. It gets worse.

Using a title holding trust (sometimes known as a Land Trust) to keep your real estate investments private is smart business. By using a trust, you avoid probate, tenant problems, frivolous lawsuits, due-on-sale clauses, seasoning issues, reassessment upon sale and many other real estate related risks.

If you want to learn more about the wonderful world of trusts, please go to: www.landtrustsmadesimple.com for more information. Or, if you would like to attend one of my FREE Land Trust Webinars, go to: www.landtrustwebinar.com/411 Also, feel free to call me with any questions. I actually answer my phone! 1-866-696-7347