Help me, Im starting a Flipping Buisness

[Eric Costa]

This question is for the professional home Flippers out there in BP land. If any of you wouldn't mind sharing some details, I would greatly appreciate it!

I'm starting a Flipping company with my cousin.  We will be the general partners, and we've approached our family, close friends and co workers as investors.  Maybe one or two of these people are accredited investors.  I do have a meeting schedule with an attorney, I'd like to be prepared with some knowledge before I waste my money and his time.

1.)Is this a legal practice that we can do? I remember an early podcast where a police officer/Firefighter opened an investment trust, is this still a viable option?

2.)How are these deals generally structured?  All of the investors will be bringing in different amounts.  We're looking to build a fund of 300-400,000 for our first house flip. (Northern NJ - that's 1, maybe 2 houses).  Is it beneficial to make this a 2-3 year investment, or should we base it on per house? I've seen that returns are usually 8-12% for private investors.  

3.) On top of the monetary investment I will be making,  what do you add on top of the deal for managment fees, etc.?

Thanks for reading and/or replying.  Any additional information would be great too!