Foreign Partner Update

[Daniel Mills]

Hi guys,

A few months ago I asked for some advice about how to buy property with a foreign partner, and I got some good advice, but I am still stuck on a few points. Here is the situation:

I am an American citizen living in Japan who owns 5 single family properties in the US. One of my friends, who is from New Zealand and experienced investing there, wants to partner up with me to buy property in the US.

I want to get conventional loans to purchase the properties, so I cannot buy them in an LLC, though I could probably transfer them to one later. Also, we want to split the down payment, he will pay closing costs also because I am getting the loan. I asked my mortgage broker about this and she said that he would need to give me his portion of the down payment and I would have to keep it in my bank account for 60 days before I could buy the property. But, can he just give me the money? He can't gift it to me because he has a financial interest in the property. How does he legally transfer it to me in this case? Any ideas?

Thanks