Syndication without "a" syndicate?

[Mike Landry]

I would like to deploy some money into Multi family 10 to 50 units in the next couple of years.  From what I read it seems to fall into 2 categories.  

1.  Either you have a lot of money and buy one on your own.  

Or

2. You put your money in a syndication, where the "syndicate" benefits substantially from your capital (rightfully so, I'm not disagreeing with the value they can have).  

However I am looking for something in between and curious if anyone out there does this. 3 to 4 partners (that are already involved and experienced in REI) each contributing $50,000 towards a multifamily unit. Everyone taking part in the decisions, equity, and cashflow on an equal basis.

I'd like to prepare myself for when/if the small multifamily market in the Houston area corrects and be ready to buy a deal if I come across a good one.  Iv'e been successful with direct marketing SFR's and would like to try a multi-family campaign in the Conroe, Spring, Willis, north Houston areas.  I like the idea of diversifying away from SFR's.  I'm not really interested in selling most of my SFR's with low interest rates to go all in on a small multi.  I'd rather team up and leverage a few peoples experience and $ along with mine to break into the multi side.  

Most local investors I talk to want to just wait and 1031 one (long) day down the road, don't have the capital, or are trying to syndicate themselves.

Is a small partnership like this too risky?  Is anyone doing something like this?