Multi person partnerships

[Philip Eaton]

About six or seven friends and I are all interested in starting to invest in real estate. Our plan is to pool our funds and then probably use financing as well. In the future we would probably want to continue adding funds and growing. We are not decided on a specific asset class, but perhaps a buy and hold duplex, 4 plex or similar depending on price and location. We live in California so we will probably want to purchase out of state. None of us have much real estate experience other than our own homes or homes that later became rentals. I wanted to see if anyone has recommendations on how to structure something like this. We are thinking about an LLC, but it seems this has a lot of overhead costs and will be more difficult to obtain financing. On the other hand we like the legal protections of an LLC, especially with so many of us involved. I really appreciate any advice or insight anyone may have. Thanks!