For a partnership where you're providing all labor and the broker is funding the deal, a fair split typically ranges from 30-50% for you and 50-70% for the broker, depending on the value and complexity of your labor versus the financial risk they're taking.

I have been playing the multifamily game for almost 10 years now, and the GRM is one of my least favorite methods personally since it ignores so many important factors (steam boiler versus electric baseboard heat as an example). 

How did they perform versus projections?

If I owe $150,000 principal I would choose to pay it over 30 years versus 5 years! 

Staging versus furnishing: students are hard in furniture.  

I'm willing to wager a significant percentage of both those groups are pre-approved or pre-qualified but not really approved.

Note I strive to minimize cash flow because it gets taxed versus other RE return are easy to defer or avoid the taxes.  

First, let's talk about U.S. versus international.

Owning has advantages that LL does not such as no vacancy, typically lower maintenance/cap ex versus being occupied by tenants, and often property tax breaks. 

Large appreciation implies property tax savings versus a new purchase.