The $2,000 Investment Most High-Net-Worth Homeowners Still Miss
February 18, 2026
By Mykolas Rambus, CEO & Co-founder of Hush
The modern threat landscape is no longer confined to cyber risk. Financial fraud is accelerating, harassment has become more organized, and sophisticated criminal groups now operate with discipline, specialization, and patience.
Yet for many high-net-worth families, the most overlooked vulnerability is also the most visible:
their home.
The United States is unusual among developed nations in how transparent residential ownership remains. In much of Europe, and in many privacy-forward jurisdictions, it is materially harder for a stranger to connect a name to an address. In the U.S., that linkage is often immediate — and it is becoming easier. Tools such as X Hunt now combine mapping interfaces with ownership and identity data, lowering the barrier for anyone to locate a principal residence with minimal effort.
This is not theoretical. High-profile burglaries targeting executives and public figures have demonstrated how frequently criminals act on premeditated intelligence. And the uncomfortable reality is that approximately 80% of burglars research a property in advance.
For executives, board members, and family office principals, the implication is simple: if ownership is easily attributable, risk increases.
One of the most effective and underutilized measures is also one of the most modest in cost: placing substantially valued residential property into a properly structured trust designed to reduce attribution. In many cases, this can be accomplished for roughly $2,000 in legal work.
However, implementation matters. Common mistakes include:
Transferring title but leaving the homeowner’s name discoverable through public records
Using a trust address tied to an operating entity the homeowner controls
Selecting trustees or signatories that re-establish the identity link
Next steps: Ask your attorney three direct questions:
“Will this structure meaningfully reduce public attribution?”
“Who should serve as trustee to preserve privacy?”
“What records still reveal the link — and how do we remove them?”
Privacy is no longer a default. It must be engineered.