Forming a RELP

A number of our clients operate this way, although I've never heard of it referred to as that exact acronym. It's really just a partnership with a managing member. Property Managers who GP deals often operate like this, offering LP spots to the clients whos properties they manage. It's a great way to build a portfolio, but like anything, you really need to know your market. If anything goes wrong, its all on you as the GP, especially since it sounds like this is friends & family money

To answer your questions:

• Yes you should form before identifying a property, it helps to have your operating agreements mostly finalized, that way everyone is on the same page
• GP will definitely go recourse unless you have substantial assets and the lender is willing to go non-recourse. The LP's most likely won't need to sign a guarantee, unless they have sizeable ownership in the entity. I wouldn't expect Non-recourse until you've developed a relationship with the lender 
• RE Attorney and a good CPA are going to be critical, especially when buying and then during distribution time
• It depends on how the operating agreement is structured, but you usually need to hold a vote for any moves you make. I'm on the debt side, so this comes into play when they buy a property or refinance. I usually put together a quote in a particular way so they can be distributed to the various LPs
• As the GP / Managing Member, you'll basically run the deal process and hold operating meetings where you're taking votes whenever you want to make a move, such as put a property under contract or move forward on a purchase or refinance loan