Completely understand on the political stuff. But my question is basically to try and figure out if I even want an LLC or if I should structure in another way. From what I have been told, all profits are passed through to the members (owners) in the LLC. Is that correct? Because then who becomes the "owner" of the LLC? I would assume just me. However, if all profits are passed through and therefore taxed on my personal return, what happens on the projects where my FIL or one of my buddies wants to go in with me? Do I just pay them out a dividend and then they are responsible for filing their own taxes as investment / real estate earnings? Because making them members would not only open up the whole can of worms for quarterly estimate filing, but it would also mean they are members of the LLC, even for projects that they wouldn't necessarily go in on. Which is why I'm back to the original question of how to file.
Then the only other thing about it is how do I classify my friends/FIL? With an LLC you do not need to cover members for Workers Compensation. However, if I simply let them act as employees and they are on the jobsite when we renovate a house for profit, then by law they would need to be covered by worker's comp. So I know I have to have them either covered or have them in an ownership position, and I am just not sure which one is worse / easier?
Finally, can I ask why I shouldn't have real estate inside of a corporation? One of the gentlemen who has given me decent advice to get started has done just that I believe. He built his own development company and currently has (I believe) close to 400 properties of a certain niche in about 20 or so states along the east coast. I could be mistaken on your wording, but is there a reason not to include real estate inside the company, and if not, what would the alternative be?
Thanks! Always fun learning!