How to Structure a Partnership to Avoid Deadlocked Decisions

[Michael Peters]

I'm currently in the process of writing out my a Partner Agreement for buy and holds and would love to learn from everyone's mistakes and best practices.  For context my partner lives out of State and would be bringing the finances.  He would like to be involved to better learn the process.  I would be finding the deals, coordinating any rehab/repairs, and managing the properties.

Clearly written, defined roles and expectations for each partner seems to be key.  My mentor highly recommended against a 50/50 split since he has had issues in the past where both parties had opposite opinions which ended in a stalemate and no action being taken.  Does anyone else have any ideas to avoid similar situations?  My current solution would be to allow the person responsible for said function to have the ability to override a group consensus.  Ex) The stove breaks.  My partner wants to get a scratch and dent model to save money.  I would purchase new to cut down on future issues.  Since I handle repairs I would have the option of making the overriding decision.

Am I maybe over complicating this?  As the PM should I make the majority of these calls myself and just leave big ticket items to us both?

[Hai Loc]

In a limited partnership the "general partner" calls all the shots..  your partner should be only passive as a "limited partner" and does not have any say.. 

to avoid stalemate on these ticky tack decisions you should have a minimum of say $5k where your partner will play a role on the decision.. and perhaps choose a mediator "a seasoned investor" who both of you agree to that can decide an outcome..