NY - Estate planning advice for elderly parents

Hi everyone,

I am currently in the process of helping my elderly parents with estate planning. We all currently live in NYC and honestly, I want to make sure this process is done right so that my sister and I can seamlessly take over all assets. My parents currently have just two, multi-family investment properties in NYC. They have equity, and only one still has a mortgage that needs to be paid (the other is paid down). I was doing research on my own, and I learned it might be best to start moving the properties into a Trust and/or an LLC. I would like full anonymity in addition to the asset protection. From what I learned, it seems it would be best to move them into a "Land Trust" first, and then put them into an LLC. However, as this is my first time doing this, I have quite a few questions.

1. Is there a benefit/ disadvantage to doing a Trust as opposed to a Will?

2. Is there another name for "Land Trust?" I have reached out to a few Estate Planning Attorneys and each time I say "land trust," no one knows what I'm talking about.

3. Do I need a lawyer to create the Trust and/or the LLC? I want to make sure this gets done well, and that inheriting will be seamless.

4)If we decide to go the Trust/LLC route, would we need to create 2 - NYC LLCs or just 1 - NYC LLC, and put the "Land Trusts" in them? Also, would we need 2 "Land Trusts" (1 for each investment property?

5. If we start the "Land Trust" process in NYC, when it comes to appointing a Trustee, is it best to appoint a lawyer, or would it be better to create a separate LLC (ex. in the state of Wyoming) and use that instead as Trustee?

6. As both properties are in NYC, do I need to create a NYC LLC? I am only asking because I am thinking in terms of tax and liability protection together. If I created a WYM LLC, how would it work with the NYC LLC? Would I assign the NYC LLC into a WYM LLC? How would it work if I do the "Land Trust" and use the WYM LLC as a Trustee?