Real Estate Investing Partnership Structure

[Morgan Jones]

I acquired my first 4-unit complex a year after I graduated college and I recently closed on a 3-unit apartment complex, both of which I was able to purchase with my own money. I would like to pick up more, but would need to bring in a financial partner. I have been very successful with my two ventures and know how to do everything from finding the deal, analyze market, underwrite, arrange financing, find tenants, and manage. I only need a silent partner who provides financing. Two main questions:

- Do you recommend an LLC or partnership for this? I was leaning towards LLC because they are significantly less expensive to register in Florida, but is a partnership a better way to go in this case?

- What is a fair structure as far as cash flow split, equity split, acquisition/disposition fees, etc for this type of arrangement? I know there are a thousand ways to structure, but what have you seen as common practice? I am a financial analyst that works on billion dollar corporate acquisitions so I see a lot of structures, but a lot of them seem way too sophisticated for the small time real estate investor.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!