Pool of Young Investors

[Carson Odom]

Before I get started on the main subject of my post, a little background information may help.

I'm a recent graduate in accounting and currently pursuing a MS in Finance in the Middle Tennessee area. I was raised actively involved in my father's rental properties. I've had a small amount of real estate education in school along with a ton of reading and studying online articles and websites. With still being in school and not starting a full time job yet, I don't have an overwhelming amount of cash ready to invest into my first rental property. My wife and I are established with our own home, zero debt besides a mortgage, and a solid emergency fund.

In realizing the small amount of capital I currently have to begin investing in real estate, I've been thinking about combining efforts with a small group of close friends. There's about four of us and we're all familiar with real estate with one of the friends having invested before and more of the expert in the group. I've considered starting a Tennessee LLC with this small group of four, combining our buying power, to help start the real estate investing among us four. This way, we each have a quarter's worth of the income, but we allow ourselves to get started early. We wouldn't be shooting in the dark completely with the help of one of our members being very experienced. The idea is to simply start as early as we can in building our portfolio while being wise at the same time.

For the experts out there, what advice or words of caution would you urge? I'm always one to seek counsel and advice from those who know for more than I do. I know it's impossible to avoid all risk as real estate in and of itself is risky, but I want to make the wisest decision possible before moving forward.

Thanks to all in advance.