I believe Brad S. currently works for himself and not for Lifestyles. I am a current PIG member (from a different office) and I have more than made my money back passively investing in apartment deals. For people who want to learn how to buy and run properties, I have personally seen Lifestyles employees go on site to evaluate a potential purchase with a prospective member buyer. Success as a passive requires networking with enough lead investors who have deals and also networking with passives to find out who the best leads are. It's true that everything Lifestyles does can be done outside of Lifestyles. However, Lifestyles has enabled me to invest more quickly and confidently with people than I believe I could have done without them.
Lifestyles doesn't buy any properties so investor returns are a function of the investment. I don't believe credit for using Lifestyles realtors is something they do any more either. I know people that have used non-Lifestyles realtors for SF and MF properties. It's not a requirement.
I can't speak to the licensing issues, but it sounds like overall you had a different experience than me. Perhaps there was an issue in a certain office or perhaps they've corrected some of those issues since you experienced them.
I just wanted to post my experience as a counterpoint to yours.