Number of Business Partners

[Aaron M. VanVoorhies]

Hi everyone! I'm very new here and am just dipping my toes into the world of investment real estate. I have literally no experience but I'm hammering through Brandon Turner's Book on Rental Property Investing and it's super intriguing. So much to the point that I started a discussion among a couple buddies and myself. After a lot of serious talking we all decided that this is something we'd like to pursue. Then came the subject of partnership. As of now, I've got two very close buddies (also with no real estate experience) who are committed, but I was wondering if I should approach more people for finance reasons. For example, if myself and my current two friends who are interested can only invest 5k cash into our venture, would it make sense to ask more people to get in on the plan? If so, how many friends (and they will be close friends I trust completely) would be a good amount to approach? What level of involvement should people have? Should I look for people who might be willing to invest more in exchange for less involvement (kind of like silent partners)? Again, I'm just getting into all this so I don't even know if this is a topic I need to think about right now. Just looking for some advice. Thanks everyone! I look forward to learning a ton from this site!