Simple JV house-flipping structure questions

Simple JV house-flipping structure questions

Member since 2019 · 3 posts · 1 vote

Hello BP - long-time reader and fan of the content here, first-time poster.

I am working with long-time family friends and buying flipping properties in North Carolina.  They are experienced rehabbers, but tend to rehab and hold.  They're looking for me to join as a capital provider to scale their operation and move into flipping.  I don't know a ton about rehabbing properties, but I'm good at business development and have a decent chunk of capital to deploy, so we think there's a natural fit for us to work together.

We've agreed to the below structure:

1. 50/50 hard dollar cash equity on all deal-related, renovation, holding, sales, etc. costs

2. We don't plan to use leverage

3. 60 / 40 profit split to my partners / myself respectively, since they'll be doing all the actual work

4. All costs tracked and authorized by both parties

We want to keep it as simple as possible, but know that things get more complicated with partners, legal docs, bank accounts, etc. We're envisioning starting an LLC (is this the right entity to use?), opening a bank account, funding said bank account 50/50 with $$$, and then issuing funds out of that bank account for the project costs. Then, once the property is sold, the account is funded with that $, both investors return their hard-dollar investment 50/50, and whatever is left over is split 60/40.

This sounds a lot simpler than is probably reality, so that's why I'm asking for your expertise.  I'm a pretty conservative person, so don't really just want to do a handshake deal without proper structuring and documentation, even though I know my partners well.  We also want to have everything set up before we start hunting for properties, so we don't miss out on a good deal because the documentation isn't buttoned up.

Questions: best way to do this? are the terms outlined above good for me, or should I ask for more (as the more or less "passive" partner)? what entity to use?  do I just call a lawyer and say "hey I'd like to have [insert type of agreement] drafted up, can you help"?  I really need to 3rd grade level explanation here.

Also, first post, apologies if it's not in the right forum!

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  • Adam SchneiderPro Member
    Lender · Raleigh, NC · Member since 2012 · 957 posts · 639 votes
    7y

    @Ezra Meyal The way you described your plan makes sense. There are obviously some buy/sell, and what if scenarios to be proactively agreed to that are standard issues to consider and have on paper. But, in terms of a business decision and structure...your plan sounds reasonable. The beauty of partnerships for flips is that you can dissolve the LLC fairly quickly (within months) without complications that normal businesses have (value of assets, passive revenue flow).

  • Member since 2019 · 3 posts · 1 vote
    7y

    @Adam Schneider thanks for the input!  So in terms of next steps, do I just call a regular old real estate attorney to have something like this drafted up and let them run with it?  How much should I expect to pay to get all the "I"s dotted and "T"s crossed?

  • Adam SchneiderPro Member
    Lender · Raleigh, NC · Member since 2012 · 957 posts · 639 votes
    7y

    @Ezra Meyal Good questions! You'll likely get a variety of opinions from the BP community. IMHO, I would put in writing in lay-person terms what you and your partner are agreeing to, and then send it to an attorney to draft and get input. In terms of how much you'll pay, the two variables will be who you use, and how much time you are asking the person to spend. When people do one-off JV agreements, the documents are not usually complicated. If you are looking to be large-scale, long term, have buy/sell language that addresses a variety of situations, require insurance on each other, want the potential to add/delete partners, etc., then it'll get pricy. Sorry it's a vague circular answer to your question. I don't think you need a real estate attorney, I think other attorneys can handle it as well. I have used Joe Diab in the past for this kind of stuff. He's in Raleigh. You might just want to hire him for a consultation appointment to get started.

  • Member since 2019 · 3 posts · 1 vote
    7y

    @Adam Schneider Super helpful, thank you sir!  We'll draft it up in plain language and then send to an attorney that my partners work with on the acquisition front.  Then I'll have someone else review it and we should be able to go from there.

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