How to buy property as a partnership?

[Kyle Wilson]

Any CPAs/attorneys or other experienced investors who have out there who would recommend how I should form a partnership for a one-time real estate deal?

A friend and I would like to do a real estate deal together in California (he's in CA and I'm in UT). I think it would be wise to draft a partnership agreement just to have expectations written up in advance. We're open to doing a flip or a BRRRR and holding it short (flip) or 2-5 years or longer, depending on what we run into. The plan is for me to provide the credit/financing/mortgage, and my partner is providing the down payment.

What advantage would there be to creating an LLC or an S Corp? I'm pretty sure both of those entities can own the property. Can we buy it as a simple partnership, too (put both of our names on the mortgage)? My main reason for thinking to create an LLC would be for liability purposes to protect against tenants. But now I'm thinking about it, I wonder if it would help protect against me owing all the mortgage if the deal goes bad and my partner leaves me dry. The chances of that are extremely low, but I think it's good to be safe.

I'm familiar with how S Corps can have tax advantages by paying yourself a lower income of the net profit, but since our annualized income from the property will be relatively low, I'm not concerned about that as much (unless it saves $ if we decide to flip the property?).