Do Family and Real Estate Mix?

[Seth Williams]

I stumbled across this post on Dave Ramsey's website today:

http://www.daveramsey.com/blog/why-family-and-real-estate-dont-mix

Overall I think he's got some good points. I've closed a couple of deals with family in the past (and everything went fine), but I know that most real estate transactions rarely go exactly as planned (and many deals have the potential to spin out of control).

What does everyone think about this? Any experience working a deal that involved family in any way? Any success or horror stories?

The few times I've worked with family members in the past, I simply refused to accept any financial compensation (which keeps my involvement as more of a "favor" than a "paid job").

How would you handle these types of scenarios?