Index funds vs RE Syndication as Limited Partner

[Jerry Kim]

I've been thinking about getting into REI. RE Syndications sound appealing since I've heard its more passive than typical REI as I could just hire a manager that has way more experience than what I have, and possibly get higher returns investing in expensive commerical RE instead of just SFH or whatever

From what I've gathered, index funds usually return around 7% on average each year. 

From what I've gathered about investing in syndications as a limited partner, it is typical to get around 15% annualized total returns. Is this a reasonable return?

But since being a limited partner would involve a lot more time and effort than index funds, as you would have to find the syndicator, choose what city to invest in, the neighborhood, etc, how is this better than just sticking to index funds?