These days all the hype is about finding private money or raising lines of credit to do your deals. There's also a lot of talk about using self-directed IRA's, creating private equity REITs, etc.

Truth be told, all these methods work and the reality is that in order to make any real estate deal work you need a few core pieces. Allow me to outline the process and the parts.

The piece-parts that must come to the table are outlined as follows:

You need Know-How, you need a Deal, you need Time and you need Funding or some way of structuring the deal so that the buyer and seller come out feeling good about the entire deal.

Now, here's were the JV or Partnership comes in.  With a partner you each bring various pieces to the table and you each share in the profits.  When deciding on a partner, make sure you know what you bring to the table and make sure you know what your partner is bringing to the table.

Let's face it, if you're bringing identical benefits to the table and there's a deficit, then you'll need to bring on other partners before you can get the deal off the ground.  The beautiful thing is that when you work with partners, you each walk away from the arrangement feeling pretty good, especially, when you feel that you're not shouldering all the risks to make the deal a success.

Some majors benefits to creating Powerful JV partnerships are things like:  No payments on an empty house (based on how the financing is structured). In this situation, the money partner paid cash and therefore there isn't a monthly payment on the house.  Another benefit is that if one partner is located far away from the property, they can rest soundly knowing that everything is being handled appropriately because everyone has a vested interest and no one makes money until the deal is settled.

One of the major points with a partnership is personal commitment and accountability.  Your word is your bond!  Unless you can be depended upon to do what you said, then everything will fall apart.  Trust will disintegrate and the deal will more than likely falter and crash because of a lack of mutally committed partners.

In a partnership, if you say you're going to do something, then make every effort to get it done as quickly and efficiently as humanly possible.  You want to impress your partners, not bore them or turn them off with lackluster performance.

This rule of "doing what you say" applies to all sides of the equation.  Whether, you're a money partner or a leg work partner or a knowledge partner or a deal finder, etc.  Everyone must be in lock step for the operation to run smoothly.

Many successful joint venture partnerships use the LLC structure for simplicity.  You can form an LLC for approximately $500 - $1,000 depending on who does it for you.  Parnterships can also be structured as general partnerships, but the more money you plan to make the more money you should put into forming the alliance.

The buy and sell partnership can be structured with a simple partnership agreement to solidify the deal, put appropriate insurance in place, etc.

Now, let's recap on the JV Partnership piece-parts:

1. Know-How

2. Deals or Motivated Sellers

3. Time

4. Funding

5. Buyer or Tenant

Make sure you and your potential partner are not both bringing the exact same things to the table.  If so, then probably the main thing that you bring to the table that you both need is moral support and encouragement to get the deal done.

I can't stress enough, how important is is for you to bring support and encouragement to the table.  If you don't bring a positive and uplifting attitude to the table then you may as well leave right away, because this partnership is going nowhere fast!

If you're not getting deals done, chances are, it may be because your missing a key ingredient.  Maybe you should go find some powerful joint venture partners.  I am always putting together profitable joint venture partnerships with my students and money partners.

Remember, no matter how you decide to set everything up, just make sure you're working with someone that you trust and you believe will follow through.

With the current state of the economy and the stock market, there is so much money out there looking for a good home to earn a good rate of return.  Most importantly the money wants to make it back home one day and not be lost forever in places like the stock market.

Unfortunately, I have heard far too many stories about people who have lost tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars of investment capital "gambling" on the stock market.  I think investing in the stock market can be crucial to our economy, but don't put all your eggs in that basket.

You don't have to gamble on real estate, because it's a solid and dependable place to invest your capital for years and years to come.  It has made and protected more millionaires than any other investment vehicle hands down.

Keep in mind that when / if you come accross the right kind of deal or want to invest with me then feel free to drop me a line and we will have a discussion or set up a meeting where we can get a good feeling about what we bring to the table and how we can work together.

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Greg Bell, President, Speaker, Trainer and Mentor
Follow me on http://www.Twitter.com/theGregBell