Almost ready in KC

[James Frizzell]

Hello all!

My business partner and I are in the formative stages of our REI company. I am a Realtor and he's a professional handyman. Our initial goals are to flip 10-12 houses per year in the Kansas City area and purchase 1-3 rental properties per year from the proceeds. We've been talking about this business venture for about 4 years now, so it's been a long time in the making and we're very motivated to make it work. We're currently in the process of finalizing our business plan and assembling our team (by the way, if anyone knows how to find a reputable attorney and accountant who has worked with RE Investors, I would appreciate any advise). Our goal is to have our LLC established, bank accounts opened, our investor on board, and have everything else ready for our first investment by April 1.

There is a question I'd like to get some advise on. We're using an investor who we have a previous (non-professional) relationship with. We're going to start with 3 investments we'll buy, reno, and sell one at time. After those three, we'll meet with our investor, review the financials of the 3 properties, discuss what we learned and what we can do better, and then determine the best way to finance 10-12 houses per year with the same investor. First, are we crazy for using only one investor, even if he believes in us? Secondly, we're torn between asking the investor for one loan per property (big headache for investor), or ask for a single loan of $300,000 at 9% interest for 5-10 years to get the business going (and financially independent). Our investor believes in our ability to be successful and trusts us to honor our deals (which we take very seriously). Does anyone have any advise on either method? Or perhaps a suggestion on a better method? Thanks in advance for any help!