Military, have partner, seek advice on corporate structure

[Michael S.]

Title change because the old one sounded like I was soliciting. Mods: can you please delete old post?

Hi folks,

I am active duty military, and I currently have 2 rentals and the house I live in. I would like to go into business with a military buddy of mine holding rentals for cash flow. We will probably want to finance these properties (conventional as co-signers with personal guarantees, nothing "creative" yet). My buddy used to live in the market where we will be buying, and his father is also a full-time landlord in the area. The current plan is to hire his father as a property manager since neither of us live in the target market. Oh by the way, we move on average about once every 2 years, and when we aren't getting ready to move we deploy overseas for 7 months or so at a time. We will be doing one deal at a time, but the goal is to have a decent sized portfolio of property. And, a nice benefit is that my buddy can write off a portion of travel expenses whenever he goes to visit family because he will be performing a business function.

In general, what is a good structure to use for a deal like this? I know we will have to work with an attorney at some point-- I just want to go in well prepared.

I have no desire to acquire anymore rentals where I currently work. The insurance costs are too high.

Thanks in advance!