Can there be too many hands?

[Justin Hazel]

A group of 4 of us all have an interest in beginning real estate investing. We have decided to begin an LLC to assist us all in pooling money and beginning with rentals. Is 4 total people too much? Do you have experience with this and what was the result? Any suggestions?

[Brian Burke]

@Justin Hazel I'm in the midst now of forming an LLC of four as well, and I also have another entity that is a group of three and we've been together for over six years.

In the case of my 4-person company, one of us has experience in class-A Multifamily acquisitions several states, one is an expert at underwriting and operations, one is a corporate and securities attorney and can draft our offering documents and contracts and just generally keep us out of trouble and the fourth is experienced at raising money from high net worth investors and the retail broker/dealer channel.

The critical take-away here is that we all bring a different skill set and can make a different contribution. If you four all bring the same skill set, it isn't a partnership it's a support group.  You don't need a clone of yourself as a partner, and you don't need someone that you can hire as a partner (like contractors). Either build a diversified team and conquer, or do it alone and share stories with each other over coffee or beer.