Your Opinions?!?

[Bill Fleming]

I’ll give everyone an overview of my situation, then ask my question.

I have been interested in REI for over 5 yrs - read books, websites, drove around, open houses, etc. Yet fear, laziness, and having $0 to invest, have prevented me from ever getting my feet wet. I am now at a point where the fear and laziness have gone away, yet my financial situation has stayed the same ($0) ;)

I have a friend that through some unfortunate situations (father died in 9/11 and mother recently passed away) has come into a large amount on money (just under $2M). He is looking to fund the real-estate deals, with me doing the majority of the leg work. He is willing to put up approx. $500k in cash, and has been pre-approved on a $750k mortgage.

My question is how would a partnership of this type typically be structured as far as profit splits, etc? I would also assume we should set up some sort of LLP or LLC? He has stated that his main objective is to assist me in eliminating my personal debt and get me into my own home w/in 5 years, sooner if possible, and that profits on his end are secondary to him (I know, amazing friend). Don't get me wrong, he wants to make money, but I wanted to put that out there so everyone knew this wasn't a ‘typical' ‘Investor/Private Lender' deal.

Thank you in advance for all of your responses, I find this website to be amazing, and value all of your opinions.