Investing With Help From Others

Hello, BP!

I have read about getting others to help you with investing in properties, but I'm a little shaky on the concept.  Recently, I've had several people tell me that they would like to invest with me, so I am trying to educate myself about how to do this.  My question is, how do I go about getting someone to help me with the monies to buy a property?  There are some properties that I really want to purchase for rental properties, problem is, I don't have the capital.  I have some friends and family that could help put up the cash with me but how do they profit from the deal?  I can't pay them back because that's mortgage fraud and that's something I never want to get anywhere in the same timezone with.

When you purchase a property with someone else investing in it with you, how do you both profit from it? They give you a rather large chunk of change and then it's tied up for a few years and they get a ROI after the sale of said property, but what if there's no sale?

Sorry, I'm having a hard time asking the right questions because this is a very new area for me.  Of course I'd talk with a lawyer about all of the legalities, I'm just trying to figure out how to get the ball rolling.

Thanks,
JJ