College Rental Partnership Set Up

[Greg W.]

Hello! I am new to the forum, new to RE investing and currently looking at purchasing my first rental property 50-50 with a partner. We would split all expenses/profits 50-50. I will be consulting an attorney and CPA, but am looking to gather as much information as I can about our options. We are looking at potential house near a local university and would plan on doing some renovations to update the house prior to next school year. My question is how we set up our partnership. Would we both co-sign for the mortgage and home and put the liability insurance in both of our names or would it be prudent to set up an 2-member LLC prior to purchase? I've read that getting a mortgage under an LLC could be difficult or result in a higher interest rate and I obviously don't want to miss out on purchasing the home because I am waiting weeks for the state to process the LLC formation. Any advise suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!