Advice on Structuring a House Purchase and Sale with a Partner

Advice on Structuring a House Purchase and Sale with a Partner

Athens, GA · Member since 2015 · 2 posts · 0 votes

So I have an LLC that is owned 50% by me and 50% by a business partner. He's identified a house we can purchase with owner financing and only $5k down. This property currently has a tenant in it with a month to month lease. Due to HOA restrictions, we can't re-lease the property to the current tenants or lease to new tenants. However, since we can get this property so far below market value the deal is worth it to use to buy, provide notice to the tenant, move them out, then resell at a substantial profit.

The problem is that my partner is currently low on cash and can't afford to provide funds for the downpayment, pay the mortgage during the period we have the property listed for sale, or fund any other large expenses that might be involved. We are hoping to remove the tenant quickly and without too many additional costs and resell quickly. But there is certainly the potential that might not happen. Even if it takes us 6 months to sell and we have some light rehab work to do, the projected profit is still good enough to move forward.

My partner is a key part of the deal because he has the relationship with the seller and can get us the favorable financing terms. He can also help with other aspects of the deal such as getting the tenant out and prepping the property for sale.

I can provide the cash needed for the deal and fund any carrying costs until the sale. I'll also help on the other aspects mentioned above.  My question is how should we structure this so that I'm properly compensated for the risk I'm taking? Should I just loan the funds to the business at a certain interest rate, then that gets paid off first before we divide up the profits 50/50 or is there some other method that makes more sense? Just curious if anyone else has faced this type of situation and how it was handled.  

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  • Investor · Louisville, KY · Member since 2011 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    10y

    Loaning the business the funds is one option which should work fine assuming your partner is on board. Another option would be to make a capital contribution to the business which would be paid out to you before any distribution of profits (same idea, just no interest earned on your cash).

    Regarding how you are properly compensated for your risk...I'm assuming you'd reap 50% of the reward when you sell, right?  That seems like a fair compensation for your risk and I would think there shouldn't be a need to complicate the deal further by charging interest.  You're risking $5K up front and a recurring mortgage payment.  Your partner is risking half of a good deal (giving you half) as well as contributing the opportunity and/or work required to close the deal (which could easily be worth as much or more than your monetary contributions).

  • Real Estate Broker · Chicago, IL · Member since 2015 · 531 posts · 266 votes
    10y

    Have you had a broker or appraiser value this property? It strikes me odd that your partner has a relationship with the seller and is enticing you to buy- why wouldn't the seller just sell right now if the upside is so great?

    Seems like there is a catch.  

  • Athens, GA · Member since 2015 · 2 posts · 0 votes
    10y

    Thanks @Michael Seeker. That makes sense to me.

    Good point @Sarah Ziehr. That's been one of the things that's held me up on the deal so far. I can't figure out why the seller doesn't just sell himself. He has a large commercial portfolio and doesn't like dealing with residential tenants from what I've heard. This is his only residential home right now and he just wants to be done with it. The property is in a residential neighborhood that has had plenty of recent sales so I have lots of comps. We'll have an inspection done and barring anything coming up on the title search there doesn't appear to be any other catch that I can see. Perhaps the tenant is a nightmare to deal with, but that doesn't appear to be the case either.

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