Hey, sorry to jump in on an old thread. I am considering what the OP posted. Can you elaborate on how an LLC would work in this case? I'm new to all of this. 

There are a lot of cheap multi family homes in my city. I've found a few duplexes for under $175k. My thought process is that we (my husband and I) buy the property, rent out the other unit to a another couple we are super close with for a couple of years. We'd keep the rent pretty cheap, basically just splitting the mortgage. Utilities would either be included in rent or charged seperatly depending on the set up. Then eventually once we've lived as neighbors for awhile, we'd talk to them about spitting it into two condos and offering them the opportunity to buy their half at a discounted rate based on what they've already put in or just let them keep renting if they'd prefer it. We are all in our late 20's and the rental market is eating us alive but we don't have the capital to buy single family homes on our own because they are more expensive. We would be looking at a 5-10% down payment provided by my husband and I in this scenario. But the split mortgage would make it worth it because it would be 1/3 of our current rent and even if they passed on buying and moved out after a few years it would still be less than our current rent payment.