What is the best means to invest with a partner?

[Dacotah Petermann-Turner]

Hello community,

My name is Dacotah, I'm really new to real estate and have been leaning on bigger pockets for a lot of my education. I've been using BiggerPockets to get started, reading articles and watching video break downs of getting started. For my first property I am planning to take it safe and invest with a friend to get a single tenant rental property in Indianapolis. We have shared our individual business plans and meet weekly to discuss our next steps. We've settled on a market and are reaching out for real estate agents now as the center piece of our in-market team. I mainly wanted to reach out to the community as any advice is welcome, but I really want to confirm my approach to properly setting up a partnership. 

Based on what I've learned so far, an LLC might be overkill for our current situation. I feel like our best bet would be to set up a joint tenancy with right of survivorship using a loan generated from a joint bank account between the two of us. I am under the impression that with good home insurance we could match the legal safety of an LLC without having to jump through the hoops of all the tax implications of an LLC. Especially since we could create an LLC at the time we buy our 2nd or 3rd property and then transfer the first property to the LLC at that time. I would greatly appreciate any insights you can provide on this, or just on getting started.

Thank you all for being such a helpful community and I look forward to this real estate journey!

[Brian G.]

Originally posted by @Dacotah Petermann-Turner:

Hello community,

My name is Dacotah, I'm really new to real estate and have been leaning on bigger pockets for a lot of my education. I've been using BiggerPockets to get started, reading articles and watching video break downs of getting started. For my first property I am planning to take it safe and invest with a friend to get a single tenant rental property in Indianapolis. We have shared our individual business plans and meet weekly to discuss our next steps. We've settled on a market and are reaching out for real estate agents now as the center piece of our in-market team. I mainly wanted to reach out to the community as any advice is welcome, but I really want to confirm my approach to properly setting up a partnership. 

Based on what I've learned so far, an LLC might be overkill for our current situation. I feel like our best bet would be to set up a joint tenancy with right of survivorship using a loan generated from a joint bank account between the two of us. I am under the impression that with good home insurance we could match the legal safety of an LLC without having to jump through the hoops of all the tax implications of an LLC. Especially since we could create an LLC at the time we buy our 2nd or 3rd property and then transfer the first property to the LLC at that time. I would greatly appreciate any insights you can provide on this, or just on getting started.

Thank you all for being such a helpful community and I look forward to this real estate journey!

My advice: consult a CPA that specializes in RE tax and a RE attorney before you implement your strategy. Partnership structure and tax strategy is not something you want to DIY imo.