people often turn to partnerships to try

and accelerate their real estate journey

If you want to go fast go alone If you

want to go far go together One of the

prevailing pieces of wisdom I’ve heard

from people is don’t partner with people

that you’re not prepared to Welcome back

to our special podcast series The

20-minute Investor where we bring you

actionable nuggets and insights from our

real estate investing journeys in

bite-sized 20-minute episodes I’m Aaron

Amin My wife and I built a portfolio of

eight cash flowing rentals across three

states while working full-time and

raising a young family And I’m Nathan

and I’m a husband a father a tech

executive who built a portfolio of cash

flowing rentals across two states from

over 2,000 mi away Together we

co-founded the Remote Real Estate

Academy where we coach investors on how

to build their own portfolios cash

flowing rentals from anywhere in the

world Today’s topic is partnerships

Whether it’s a friend a spouse or a

business partner people often turn to

partnerships to try and accelerate their

real estate journeys So we’re going to

talk about some of the good the bad and

the ugly and how we approach

partnerships Obviously Nathan you and I

have formed a partnership so we can talk

about some of the dynamics and decisions

that led us to to this partnership but

also just in general I think before we

do that it’d be interesting to to hear

from you like when you were starting at

the beginning you know were you

considering partnerships or did you

always kind of want to be more of an

individual investor and build a

portfolio of direct ownership that’s a

great question and I don’t know if my

answer is going to be what you were

looking for but it’s actually both And

I’m going to explain what I mean by both

I think it’s cuz you touched on this in

the intro but I think for me and my wife

and I it’s always been and still today I

think more of on our own direct

ownership thing And that’s primarily

stemming from the I think the the some

of our desires and constraints in life

We keep talking about you know we have

full-time jobs we’re you know parents we

want to spend time together you know so

this real estate thing is you know 20

minutes a day at most that we can kind

of give to do this So that that’s a

constraint of ours that we have to work

within And sometimes if you’re in a

partnership that your your partner might

have you know 3 hours a day where they

do this and they’re constantly pinging

you and asking for something or whatever

it is which would not map with kind of

what we’re trying to achieve So kind of

working within our constraints but I

think it’s also and I’m I’m sure I’ve

mentioned this in the past but for me

it’s also a lot of the desire part of

what I was talking about is the desire

for kind of control We want control of

the time we spend the effort we spend in

doing this the activities that we do in

our real estate investment the

properties themselves of course as well

right but that that retaining of control

is critically important to us I would

say on the on the flip side though and

this is where I I said I don’t know how

well this is going to answer your

question but I actually view my wife and

I working together on this as a

partnership Especially when we got

started for instance and this might

sound contrarian to folks or whatever

but when when we got started in our real

estate investing journey we had two very

young kids including one who was born

prematurely four weeks in the hospital

then had a whole bunch of eating issues

her entire first year of life So it was

just very very hard and very very time

consuming And in that period of time for

example we made a conscious partnership

decision that one of us would focus more

on real estate for the time being so

that the other could focus on the family

and the kids because we couldn’t both do

it all Not at that time And that’s

changed since you know we you know we

split responsibilities for some of the

stuff now So in a sense we we do have I

mean yes I’m I’m married to my wife so I

have a partnership in that sense but we

partner on this whole real estate thing

as well right so partnership in that

sense spouses yes partnership with like

an external quote third party not

something we’re interested in right now

yeah totally fair and I’m glad you

called out the the spouse part because

yes for those who listen to the show

that are married or plan to be married

there is an important you’re you’re

partners in more ways than than one

Whether or not your your partner is

involved in real estate or not there’s

still the entire like job of managing

your life together especially if you

have kids right there’s there’s the

household there’s the parenting there’s

financial there’s you know their career

there’s your career there’s any

extracurricular you know hobbies and

recreation there’s extracurricular

financial you know side hustles and and

real estate you know for most people

listening to this real estate falls into

that kind of side hustle category where

you’re putting some marginal effort

outside of your the rest of your life in

the service of trying to build something

for your future It’s easy to dep

prioritize that when stuff gets crazy

And so having an important like open

line of dialogue with your partner your

spouse you know as to who’s covering

what and then what are the tradeoffs

that and making sure that you’re on the

same page about that right because if if

your spouse doesn’t agree that you know

if you have to go spend 30 minutes 40

minutes an hour working on some real

estate thing and they’re like “Where the

hell are you?” The dishes need to be

done or like you know the kids need this

and that and you don’t have a good

communication about like how you’re

co-managing those elements it can create

a lot of problems and the last thing you

want is problems at home You know on our

website we talk about how to invest in

real estate without getting divorced or

uh losing your job or going insane And

um there’s a reason that those are our

you know kind of key key uh outcomes we

want to avoid in addition to building

wealth through real estate So yeah it’s

a really good call out and um you know I

would add on my side on the spouse front

right like my wife has always been

involved in decisions She’s always been

aware of everything we do She has

contributed in various ways throughout

our journey but I’ve always kind of been

in the driver’s seat when it comes to

like the day-to-day on our real estate

portfolio especially on our single

family rentals But most recently for

those who have listened to any previous

episodes you know we’re working on a new

project now that’s totally different in

nature We’re doing a groundup

development We’re building assisted

living homes and then we’re going to be

starting a business basically on top of

that to actually run those assisted

living homes So now the dynamic has

shifted dramatically She’s kind of at

the helm of that She’s more of the CEO

and I’m more of the backend CFO in

operations And um so we’re having to

forge what is you know by any standards

a full-fledged very formal partnership

business partnership and not only do we

have to form that between ourselves but

we were going to bring on investors and

so we need to operate with that level of

legitimacy that we have you know

specific roles we have work um roles and

responsibility we have all our dynamics

figured out and that we can present a

united front that we’re the right people

to to run this business So I share that

but it’s not related directly to rental

properties but it’s just a way of even

if it’s your spouse like in our case

we’re we’re having to create formal

structure And that’s an interesting

dynamic to introduce to a marriage

because most of the time in marriage

things are fluid You’re reacting and

you’re kind of moving solving one

problem at a time especially with young

kids And so there is this interesting

adjustment for us on the on the home

front to these new dynamics But I think

you know to your point of like external

partnerships like you know buying homes

with other people on title or with them

playing a role in your business it’s a

huge decision And that’s actually

exactly kind of the point of this topic

and this episode is like some people

default to that You know the Brandon

Turner I believe is the one who says and

this is not a unique concept but he’s

the one I always hear talking about in

real estate There’s time money and

knowledge are like the three components

of any deal And most people don’t have

all three Some people have two but it’s

very rare to have all three So I think

what happens is when you’re early in

your journey you might have a bunch of

money and no time and no knowledge And

so maybe you’re looking for someone

who’s like a younger person that’s got a

bunch of free time and hustle and you’re

like well like I’ll just be the money

and I’ll you know put this guy to work

or or girl to work and um you know we’ll

form a partnership and it’ll work out

great But there’s just so much that goes

into that and so many different ways

that life can evolve and and diverge

over time I just think it’s a big

decision So yeah curious your

thought We’ve been talking about um you

know marriage and spouses and things

like that

I I at least personally and one could

argue that getting into a partnership

like this for something like real estate

a lot of money It’s long-term It’s not a

10-minute you know $10 thing and then

you’re done that you’re partnering on

One could argue it’s just as important

as your you know kind of getting to know

and quote vetting Probably going to

trigger some people saying that but

triggering your or vetting your spouse

You got to vet your your partner right

cuz who knows what’s going to happen if

you know down the road a year or two

five your plans goals ideas motivations

completely diverge and then you’re kind

of stuck in this marriage quote unquote

partnership that you find yourself

having to again quote unquote divorce

from right and it’s not it’s not a quick

and easy thing like you were saying was

like oh I could be the money here and

I’ve seen this person on some you know

Facebook forum or whatever They have a

whole bunch of you know a whole bunch of

time that they could be the boots on the

ground They could do the the you know

the shopping and the rehab and all that

So I’ll just send them their money but

what about all the due diligence right

now you’re adding an extra layer of you

know work first of all but then dynamics

and an you know an additional

relationship as well Um so it’s not as

straightforward um as it might sound

right and I think there’s there’s always

this trap which you know I don’t know if

it’s a trap but I’ve heard probably

Brandon Turner Turner and others say

this and what’s the expression again if

you want to go fast go alone If you want

to go far go together And a lot of

people I think which I generally

subscribe to and it’s not I’m not saying

that expression is a bad idea or a bad

expression and it’s probably generally

applicable for a lot of things in life

but I’m just saying I think people get

uh stareyed when they hear that it’s

like okay great I want to go far and do

big things and big portfolio and a lot

of returns so let me partner up with a

bunch of people that know more or have

the time or have the money without

necessarily doing the due diligence

before So yeah and on that point I think

sometimes people look to partnerships to

solve an immediate problem right like

hey I’m you know I want to keep growing

but right now you know I bought a

property last year I haven’t saved up

enough for my next down payment and the

only way I can think of to grow is to go

find somebody who has capital and to

partner with on this next property or or

or like you know in my case this is

actually the most relevant you know from

our context We bought our whole

portfolio primarily with our own money

The only partnership we ever did is we

had a couple arrangements with my

parents on properties in Washington

where they brought capital and we

brought management and we found the

deals And that’s within the family And

even that has its own complexities You

know one of the kind of prevailing

pieces of wisdom I’ve heard from people

is like don’t partner with people that

you’re not prepared to like never talk

to again if stuff goes wrong And

obviously I’m not prepared to not talk

to my parents again So there’s a you got

to be you got to be careful anytime

you’re intertwining money and

responsibility with people But like

outside of that we had not partnered

with anybody on on homes But what

happened was we ran out of our own money

at some point Started having kids You

know we went from dual income no kids to

um having kids and you know my wife

taking time off work Our financial

profile flipped and we still had this

hunger desire to grow continue to scale

our portfolio and find good deals but we

were capital constrained We had no we

had no money for that right the money

that we had was for our life And so I

got frustrated And so I’m I’m almost

like exactly what what I just described

before just out of the desire to grow I

was turning which every which way like

okay well I can start learning how to

buy deals off market at steep discounts

Well then I have to do this direct to

market direct to seller marketing and

start spending all this money and it’s a

totally different game than what you and

I primarily focus on or I could go

partner with people and find capital

partners to either lend me private money

for the down payments or you know have

an equity partnership where they bring

money and I find the deals But again

that was like me trying to solve some

immediate problem with something that

has extreme like long-term implications

Now with partnerships you can do

something like a JV where you say “We’re

going to partner on this one deal under

this very specific set of

circumstances.” And maybe you time box

it And if you set it up thoughtfully

then you might not end up in that

long-term kind of marriage type

situation you talked about But most

people don’t think about that They’re

just like “Hey you’re cool You have

something I need I have something you

need Let’s just go buy a house

together.” And I think if you’re if

you’re loose about that the risk u you

might be excited in that moment but I

always think about this It’s like it’s

so much easier to be aligned at the

beginning of a partnership than it is to

have any idea if you’ll still be aligned

2 years 3 years 5 years into the future

People have kids people have health

events people’s priorities change people

grow and evolve as natural And so I

think that’s uh that’s where I get a lot

of I kind of took a step back because I

was starting to consider a lot of

partnerships but I was doing it because

I was trying to solve an immediate pain

not really being as thoughtful as I

should have been about what the long

term would be Now I’m thankful to say I

didn’t really enter into any of those

you know that I was considering but it’s

funny how close you can get to making

those type of decisions when you’re in

that type of when you feel that kind of

pinch to to continue to grow Yeah that I

think specifically maybe for the

audience listening to this right and

what we talk about a lot um in the

academy and just with with people around

us is like if if you’re relatively new

to to this real estate investing thing

and you’re getting started um and it’s a

similar conversation we have like about

you know should I buy these properties

in an LLC and all this stuff right but

if you’re considering partnerships when

you’re getting started I think one thing

to be aware of um is that it’s it adds

the layer of complexity

and stuff to do on top of just the real

estate like deal analysis understanding

your market building your network

because now you talked about JV joint

ventures right now there’s a whole bunch

of legal paperwork that you have to do

and unless you’ve done it before you’re

not going to be an expert you know in in

that aspect of it so now you’re adding

this like okay so how do I do that what

does it mean how do I write it up so

that I am protected that we can you know

dissolve the the venture if things go

badly and all that stuff and it’s just

yeah you’re adding yeah workload and

complexity to and mind share as well I

think to a process that is already

potentially overwhelming if you are

getting started that’s something else to

be aware

of% and yeah I guess like with the final

few minutes here right like obviously

Nathan and I chose to partner with each

other on this business but I think there

are obviously some big structural

differences between this type of

business and buying something like real

estate together but I think um you know

what I’ll say about why we chose or why

I chose to you know have this

conversation with you and ultimately

spend this last almost 18 months now

building this is because we did see a

lot of alignment both in our

philosophies in our approaches some of

the motions we had put in place leading

up to this just in general right like we

had known each other really well we had

met every week more or less for almost

like 2 years before we decided to do

this cuz we were in a mastermind group

we knew how each other thought we had

you know we had seen vulnerable moments

from each other before we had seen how

we deal with stress like a lot of the

things that would make you comfortable

with can I like trust this person you

know through difficult conversations can

I really like do I really believe that

when things are going right it’s easy to

you know believe that everything’s going

to be just fine But when when you face

adversity or when there’s like difficult

conversation like disparity and you know

feeling like you’re equally contributing

resentment whatever like can can we

navigate those things together i think I

can only speak for myself here but I had

a lot of confidence that you know we had

that dynamic that we would be able to do

that and that’s the level of comfort I

would want to have with somebody before

I even consider something like this

Assuming you uh don’t regret partnering

with me I’d love to hear if you feel the

same All regret man No not at all

Kidding obviously But I mean again it’s

I mean maybe continuing on this I don’t

know how good of an analogy it is but

like the the marriage you know analogy

and you said spot on then to me it’s

what made it easy to get into a more

formal you know partnership and

relationship is because we had quote

unquote been dating for 2 years right

we’d been doing stuff together talking

on a weekly basis working on analyzing

deals together talking about businesses

you know we’re in masterminds that would

sometimes have challenges ing topics

about you know oneself right in these in

different situations And so we we had

these two years of you know like I

mentioned before kind of vetting each

other and knowing you know values

background culture expectations work

ethic all this stuff that made it that

much easier to just say “Okay let’s do

this and let’s formalize it.” Because we

had been doing things together for a

couple years already Um and I think that

back to what you were saying before

that’s very different saying “I’ve been

spending two years talking to this

person weekly versus I just met this

person maybe on some forum and they

claim they’re really good at this and I

don’t have time but they do so let’s

just partner up.” Very different Yeah

And I mean there’s also people that I’ve

spent two years hanging out with that I

conclusively know that I would not

partner with Oh exactly Yeah Whereas

when I when I met them I might have

thought about partnering with them but

over time as I saw them deal with

different situations you see how they

operate and how how they handle

communications how they behave you know

with other people and then you know so

it can go the other way too And that’s

why I think yeah it’s very important to

really know somebody and 100% and you

know be able to trust that you can grow

together It’s it really is the same

principle as a marriage If you date

somebody because you like going out and

having fun at the bars and like you got

you know a good a good vibe going that

is very important But ultimately like

when you marry somebody you’re deciding

can I grow with this person alongside

this person over a long period of time

Same principles apply Obviously

different context but well hope

hopefully this is good fodder for anyone

considering a partnership uh you know it

is a heavy decision and if you’ve gone

through this or if you’re considering

doing this and you have any questions or

you want our perspective we always

welcome reaching out Drop us a comment

drop us an email and uh we would love to

hear from you Until then we will catch

you next time Thank you for making it to

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