It can still work in niche situations but I think it is a grind and you gamble time and money. 

I have a nearly perfect credit score and I'm gambling on that for my first project.

Overall I would treat this investment as a high risk gamble and willing to accept loss if it failed but It's also a very interesting process to understand how the industry works.

(Cash flow is always a gamble.).

It's a gamble unless you're experienced and know what you're doing.

Always run title to check for any clouds, try not to gamble on super small tracts of land like this unless confident in own title searching capabilities.

Short term "quick money" kinds of opportunities don't really appeal to me as I view it more as gambling.

All this to say, my base case is that right now rates are the lowest they've been in almost a year and it's more of a gamble to wait and see what the Fed does than to take what we have now.

Another thing to realize is there are more (uncontrollable) risks associated with syndications.  

You gambled your investment capital on an internet investment-promoter.