How to invest with OPM on residential properties

[Charlie Austin]

Hi BP community,

I've been RE investing for about 12 months now. Own a 4plex, 2 single family homes, and am looking to continue investing. 

Recently I've had friends & family express interest in investing with me in an OPM type of strategy -- they give me money, I invest for them, which is great. I'm however struggling with the legal/contractual portion of this, especially because my focus so far has been smaller residential properties. I spoke with a lawyer about syndication set ups but those were too expensive. Creating a new LLC for each single family investment seems like overkill too.

I'm wondering if anyone has experience knocking down deals with a simple promissory note contract that legally binds me to my "investors," so that everyone can feel comfortable investing with me without the hassle/cost of a new LLC or a syndication.

Any advice or expertise would be greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone.