Do You Need an LLC When Buying Your First Rental Property? (Rookie Reply)

Real Estate Rookie

BiggerPockets

How To, Education, Business, Investing, Entrepreneurship

4.8 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 28 March 2025

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Many “experts” say you need a real estate LLC once you buy a rental property, but are they right? They also say you need money and great credit to invest in real estate, but we know of other creative ways to get started. Stick around to learn how! Welcome back to another Rookie Reply! Ashley and Tony have pulled more of your recent questions from the BiggerPockets Forums, and today’s first question comes from an investor who just bought their first rental property. Do they need to set up a limited liability company (LLC) right off the bat, or can they hold off until they grow their real estate portfolio? We’ll show them the best ways to protect their personal assets! We’ll also hear from an investor who wants to get into house hacking. The only problem? They live in an expensive market, and the deal they’re looking at doesn’t pencil out. Could pivoting to another investing strategy make it profitable? Finally, a lack of money keeps many beginners from breaking into real estate, but it doesn’t have to. We’ll share some creative ways to kickstart your investing journey if you don’t have a ton of money or credit! Looking to invest? Need answers? Ask your question here! In This Episode We Cover: Whether you need a limited liability company (LLC) for your first rental property The differences between umbrella policies and LLCs (and which one YOU need) How to create more cash flow from a house hack (even in a pricey market!) How to start your real estate investing journey without much money or great credit Learning the industry and making extra money with real estate side hustles And So Much More! Links from the Show Ashley's BiggerPockets Profile Tony's BiggerPockets Profile Join BiggerPockets for FREE Real Estate Rookie Facebook Group Real Estate Rookie YouTube Follow Real Estate Rookie on Instagram Ask Your Question for a Future Rookie Reply “Like” Real Estate Rookie on Facebook The Millionaire Next Door The Psychology of Money Build Your Investing Network at BPCON2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada Ask Your Question for a Future Rookie Reply Grab “The Book on Investing in Real Estate with No (and Low) Money Down” Sign Up for the Real Estate Rookie Newsletter Find an Investor-Friendly Agent in Your Area Real Estate Rookie 105 - Don’t Lose Your Portfolio to Lawsuits! Here’s How to Protect Yourself Real Estate Rookie 106 - Asset Protection for Rookies: 7 Wealth-Saving Answers from an Expert (00:00) Intro (00:31) Do You NEED an LLC? (06:32) House Hacking in a Pricy Market (13:50) Investing Without Money or Credit (23:56) Ask Your Question! Check out more resources from this show on BiggerPockets.com and https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/rookie-541 Interested in learning more about today’s sponsors or becoming a BiggerPockets partner yourself? Email [email protected]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Creating your own LLC is talked about constantly on YouTube.
0:04.4	Everyone says you need it as an entrepreneur, but is it maybe overkill for a rookie investor.
0:10.2	In this episode, we'll also cover house hacking and expensive real estate markets and how it can be done.
0:15.8	We'll cover strategy and to give you some actionable advice if you're new to the world of real estate.
0:25.6	Thank you. and to give you some actionable advice if you're new to the world of real estate investment. I'm Ashley Care.
0:27.0	And I'm Tony J. Robinson.
0:28.7	And welcome to the Real Estate Rookie Podcast.
0:31.3	All right.
0:31.6	So our first question today, and today's Rookie Reply, this question says,
0:35.0	Hi, y'all, I'm new to real estate investing and recently bought
0:38.2	my first property a few months ago and got it rented out. I'm thinking about the future and how I
0:43.4	will purchase properties in the future. I often hear you should get an LLC to protect yourself
0:48.5	in case something goes wrong. Is that only useful if you have a large portfolio? Is that worth
0:53.9	looking into right now as I'm only at the beginning of my journey?
0:57.5	Open to any suggestions, insights, or past experiences.
1:02.4	So I couldn't agree more.
1:03.9	Actually, I feel like we hear a lot about the LLCs.
1:06.5	And I feel like a lot of the real estate influencers have viral videos saying,
1:10.7	here's how I structure all my different properties.
1:12.4	Everyone's doing like the same video with the right board.
1:15.1	But I'll give a quick anecdote and I want to get your take on it as well.
1:18.3	But we actually interviewed Brian Bradley.
	...

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