@Benjamin Pekarek
I've been creating successful debt and equity structure syndications with private investors for a few years now. I went to Jillian Sidoti's (Taylor, Trowbridge & Sidoti) Securities 2 day workshop 3 weeks ago in late Sept. Needless to say, my eyes were opened. Don't get me wrong, I was doing a lot of stuff right, but I was surely doing a number of things wrong.
Everyone is happy when a project goes great. It's when things go wrong you have to worry about. Regardless of disclaimers, if a deal goes bad, which they do, and you did not disclose properly, secure investors properly, etc and you get a disgruntled investor, you can be sure just one phone call can bring your world to a screeching halt.
Heed @Curt Smith and @Brian Moore's and everyone else's advice. You are selling a security. Expense the cost into your deals, and use it as a template moving forward. Maybe try creating one LLC and using that LLC to do multiple properties at once, therefore creating enough margin to cover the expense. It may be a small amount you're raising from your investors, but the excuse of not knowing doesn't go over well with the SEC.
To answer your question about soliciting investors, I don't believe it's actually ok to generally solicit investors unless you are forming a Reg A fund. My advice, again, contact Jillians office. They'll shoot you straight. I'm still wrapping my head around the ins and outs of doing it correctly, but I wanted to chime in.
Best of luck!
