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I currently own 2 houses, one of which is currently a rental property (and rented out), and the other will be starting in june. Is it worth it for me to form an llc, and can the llc own those houses (and others i plan on buying in the future)?

That is the simple gist of my problem. Now the complicating factors. I am active duty military, soon to be deployed. My wife, who would be the other member of the llc will be living in CO while I am deployed. The properties are in AL and NC. Do they each need a seperate LLC, and where do I file anyway?

Any input you have is appreciated

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I'm in a similar situation- I have several rental properties; used to live in one and bought others.

If you want to get a residential mortgage on a property, it cannot be owned by an LLC.

Rental properties do not need to be owned by LLCs anyway. I thought about doing an LLC for a property I bought with a co-investor, in cash, just to have a mechanism for taking in money and allocating profits and losses, but we just signed an agreement by which we each promised to follow certain rules with the property.

If you do set up an LLC, you can set it up anywhere by filing in any secretary of state's office, but it may (depending on state law) need to be qualified to do business in the state where the property is located. Forming an LLC and keeping it in existence will cost a few hundred dollars per year, and qualifying it will incur similar costs.

Short answer: don't bother with an LLC. If your goal is protection from liability, just get insurance, which you'd need anyway, and use good landlord-friendly leases.

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