50/50 Partnership Structure and LLCs

[Neal O.]

A friend and I plan to partner on buying rental properties. We'll contribute equal amounts of capital up front, share roughly in the workload, and share profits. We will write a proper agreement spelling out all expectations and obligations, and use an attorney to make the arrangement proper and official including a buy-sell agreement, etc.

We can likely buy and rehab our first property with our combined cash and without need for an initial loan, although we may want to get a loan after the rehab to get the cash back out, BRRRR style, and/or for subsequent properties. My understanding is that having the property owned by an LLC is ideal for protection, but it's either difficult or impossible to get a conventional loan as an LLC. So I'm curious as to the best way to structure our arrangement and hold title in the properties. Should we form an LLC together, and if so how do we deal with holding title and applying for loans?

We both live in California and are planning to invest in Michigan.

[Wesley Davis]

So we just started a LLC, my partner and I. Essentially what we were told as far as the loan, is that the lender will hold both of us responsible for the loan, not the LLC. You can still have the property deeded into the LLC and have your LLC actually buy it. The loan though is in your personal name.

We did apply for a commercial loan though for a 6 unit, and they were willing to just use the LLC and not us personally. We still had to submit personal financial statements and all that, but I guess since it was commercial it worked a little different.