How to keep the purchase of your home and where you live private from search engines and public records
Do you worry about people finding your home address on the web? Does your profession involve lots of clients or patients? Do you simply prefer to protect your privacy and anonymity from web searches and Google?
You should know this default setting when it comes to purchasing a home: the Deed, the document that transfers ownership of the home and is filed with the local county, must include the buyer’s name and new home address. Furthermore, that name and new home address will surface on the web after the Deed is filed with the county as it is a public document.
Brutal, right? Let’s say you’re in a profession that lends itself to clients/patients googling your name to find reviews on your professional services. Fair enough if the search results are limited to professional related reviews. Unfortunately, Google doesn’t differentiate between what’s personal and professional. It’s extremely likely your home address will pop up on a search of your name.
Luckily, there are ways around this.
The two most common ways are to create a land trust or LLC to buy and own the property. This results in the Deed showing the name of the land trust or LLC instead of your name. In turn, that detaches a Google search of your name and your home. There are extra costs associated with a land trust and LLC in terms of setting up and maintaining but it may be worth the expense if it saves you from the expense of a client or patient knowing where you live and the value of your home.
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