"Sharing" a mortgage loan for Multi-family property

[Daniel Spaizman]

Hello all,

Would like to start off by both saying thank you in advance for any input you may have and, also, that I am a newbie to real estate investing, as my question will reflect.

After listening to several of the bigger pockets podcasts and reading blog posts, I am interested in moving towards investing in multi-family properties.  In order to find complexes with more units or complexes in more desirable locations, I'm interested in going in on the property with some friends.  Can someone point me in the direction of the best reading material detailing how one shares a mortgage?  Additionally, is it possible to take the mortgage out under one person's name and have the other folks contribute as private lenders?  If so, how does this work, from a tax perspective?  What are some things to consider when doing either?

Again, any thoughts, help, comments are very much appreciated.

Thank you for your time,

Daniel