Empty house my dad owns

[Matthew J Meyer]

Howdy!

I'm a newbie who's been looking for a good opportunity for the past month or two. My dad owns a house. He's not in town and he probably won't come back. He's been clear that he wants to have the option to come back to Dallas, though. A few months ago he offered me to live there. I declined at the time, but am now reconsidering. He's not familiar with real estate strategies and I haven't yet spoken him about any of this plan I've been thinking up - either roommates or short term rentals. I do plan on pitching it to him at some point soon.

The house is in fair to poor condition. Needs new paint, new garage door opener, new wooden flooring in at least one room, new appliances before it can be rent ready I think (in my newbie opinion). Bottom line is I need to put some equity in that house before any enterprising happens.

Could yall advise me on two things:

1. Profit split - How do I split the profits when the only thing he's providing is an empty house that isn't being used anyway? 

2. I'm attaching equity to a house that isn't even mine.

I think that buying the house with an FHA loan is also an option that would allow me more freedom to make decisions. But I would like to consider asking to do rentals on the property before asking to purchase. I'm not sure that the other way around would be be a good negotiation.

What are yalls thoughts?

[Parker Eberhard]

@Matthew J Meyer have you run the numbers for different scenarios yet? If i were in your shoes I would put together a business plan to show your dad that would give him the option to move back if he wanted. You could look at short term rentals, AirBnb, etc, as well as what the cash flow from a year lease would be if he came back early and did a short term rental in another property until the lease was up.