partnering with a friend

[Mohammed Mellity]

I am planning on partnering with a friend of mine I used to work with. He is also into real estate and we are planing to flip houses. We are going in with the same amount of money and we both will be managing the process from beginning to end (50/50 everything). We are not planing to open an LLC or LLP (this partnership is temporary). we are just putting our money together for the first time to work on a deal. I talked to a Hard money agent to help us finance the rest of the deal but he asked me to put both my money and my friend's money in one bank account (probably my account) and I guess I will have to be the main person on the loan. Before I can go back to my friend and ask him to transfer his money to my account. My question is do I need to contact a lawyer to draft an agreement or something like that between me and my friend so it will make us both comfortable working with each other. I also want to show him that I am serious about this partnership and I am not someone that's gonna run away with his money. Any advice on how I should handle this situation will be appreciated.

Thank you all in advance!

[Dan Zitofsky]

Sorry. i didn't mean to quote you but wanted to answer. I warn you up front that its very important to put everything in writing. i can't tell you how many deals Ive lent on that I hear a investor and contractor or friend will partner and it ends up going south. Could be many reasons, such as the contractor finds out he could be made more being a contractor and not the owner, etc. You really need to spell out what each person is responsible for and what you will do should there be an impass. Who will be the mediator, etc. 

Hope this helps

Dan