Several had mint green walls with dark brown trim, and hardwood floors that hadn’t seen love in a very long time.

I have not heard from him and he has ignored my phone calls.Maybe this is a one off but it kinda sucks that as a first time investor with them I have been left in the dark and it seems my project has been blown off but I definitely would not recommend them.  

Yes there is a dark side but there is a ton of positive. 

One of my criteria for investing is not to buy in any area where I would not feel comfortable sending my wife to collect rent in the dark.  

You may know if it as the shadow banking system; or it's also referred to as the eurodollar system. 

.- Shadowing another investor in my area- looking for openings in real estate management companies, or offering my helpOr..I could take my facilities job for the time being and save for an investment further down the roadI want to begin my investing as soon as I can but feel the opportunities that are available to me are a little limited due to my lack of experience and cash. 

And contractual issues aside--from a practical standpoint, GPs would have long-spent that money (if nothing else for the taxes on it) and might not have the cash available to return fees, especially if they are not currently transacting.The dirty dark little secret in the syndication business is it's really a fee-based model. 

I’m seeking anyone who could be a mentor/coach, someone I can shadow, or someone I can reach out to just to pick their brain.

They could still be shopping around thinking they can just change their mind if they find something better while leaving you completely in the dark.  

If you want to go down a deep dark rabbit hole, and I don't want to get outside the scope of BiggerPockets, but look into "15 minute cities".