First Syndication Deal

[Jonathan Pavkov]

Hi - I'm new to real estate investing and looking to build out a syndication team. 

My background: I'm a CPA, and just got my real estate license. I plan on selling real estate to in the short term to learn more about the market (I have enough savings to ramp this up over the next year, and live quite simply so expenses are low), and I have $150k to put into my fund. I know a few people who would be willing to put in $300k. My goal would be to raise $1M in capital to deploy (I'd put in 15%).

This is all new to me, so my questions are:

1. 1. What's more important - building out the partnership and raising the capital or finding the deals? I know I need to do both, but does one come first or do I do that in parallel?
2. 2. Is it better to find undervalued properties and pay cash for them, let them season and pull the money back out? Or find a multi-million dollar property and get bank funding immediately?
3. 3. What percent of the business do I take for finding the fund? I know that depends, but is it unreasonable to create add an additional 10% for my efforts in finding the opportunities?
4. 4. What are realistic expectations for investors in terms of cash on cash return in a syndication? If someone puts in $300k, should they expect an 8% return? Or 10% return? If the plan would be to sell in 5-7 years, would appreciation be factored into their return?

These forums are great - thanks for any input you have. Also, if you've done some syndication deals and would be willing to talk that would be awesome!

Thanks!

Jonathan