Getting Started with a partner

[Kristen Buckley]

Hi all, I am just starting my real estate investment journey with my husband and a friend of ours. The 3 of us are contributing equally to our first investment and are in the process of setting up our business LLC. My husband and I are not local to the market we are looking at but both are from that area so we know it well. Our partner is located in that area and will be responsible in the beginning for tending to the property/maintenance, etc. I will be visiting the area on a periodic basis to check the property, etc to avoid our partner being the sole person locally responsible for the maintenance of the property. I already have been conducting some of the back office things to get our business established/started. My question is- should we be setting up our member managed LLC with equal percentages prior to our first purchase?- Since we are unable to know ahead of time how much time/effort will be required of our partner before we even get a property. He was asking for increased percentage due to him being local but there is other work required for this business that can be done remotely. If you have any experience or suggestions for this specific situation please let me know. Thanks so much!