Adding a partner on a residential property - good idea or bad?

[Jessa Dunham]

I own two properties. One of them I bought 10 years ago; it has more than doubled in value in the time since I bought it, and it has an ADU, so it is cash flow positive. It is in a highly desirable area in a beautiful setting. A few years ago I was able to buy a small second property in the next town over as an investment property, but it was a bit of a fixer upper so I took out a HELOC on my first property, fixed it up and rented it out. The rental income pays the mortgage and the HELOC payments. I am now finding that maintenance of my first property is starting to become more than I can handle both in terms of time and expense - especially since I already used the equity available on the house elsewhere. I've toyed with the idea of selling the rental but the current economy is less than ideal to do so. An acquaintance recently offered to partner with me on the first property; he would bring cash to the table, this would cover repairs as well as upgrades, pay off the HELOC and offers to manage the property in my absence as well. We would share the title and refinance, split profit. Does anyone have experience with this kind of deal? Would you recommend it? Should it be 50/50 or should I retain majority %? How much would be a fair buy-in given how much the place has appreciated since I bought it? And what kind of separation agreement should we put in place if we ever decided to un-partner? All insight and advice welcome, thank you!