To Partner or Not To Partner- That is the Question

[Jonathan Miller]

Good Morning BP,

I have recently been looking at a bunch of properties in the Chicagoland area and am running into a dilemma - I'm finding great properties, but do not have the capital to do anything. For example, I found a 4-unit property for $550,000 in a good area - double lot, commercial space on the ground floor, and very well maintained, the only thing it needs is tuck pointing. My thoughts are to go in at $520,000 which would be minus the $30,000 for tuck pointing. I ran the numbers and that property would give a $1,000 cash flow or 9.25% cash on cash.

However, a good friend of mine told me about "Home Possible" which I could possibly get properties for only 5% down. If I went this route, I would be looking in areas that aren't the best, some of them are around 6-7% ROI and I would essentially empty out all of my savings. My question is: is there an experienced investor out there that is willing to work a deal with a newbie (i.e. they finance and I maintain/do repairs on the building while learning from them), or do I have a better chance going it alone?

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone!