In your example of being called into the office you were obviously working as an employee of an investor or PM however this example doesn't work well when compared to the function of an independent management "company".

So, your qualifications might need to be stronger when dealing with institutional funds compared to a more casual, private lending scenario.

They are effectively like any other syndication (by definition they are a syndication), but put in place a legal ownership structure to accommodate 1031 proceeds.I understand why they have higher fees than the typical syndication, given the complexity in their ownership structure compared to a "typical" syndication.At the end of the day, any return from a syndication (typical or DST) is going to be primarily driven by market cycles.  

There are definitely pros and cons to each so I figured I would just lay out a few benefits and personal thoughts: Small banks/brokerages:Pros:- Some regional knowledge of the market- Possibility of more creative lending guidelines with bank specific programs- Sometimes they have competitive rates for their areaCons: - weak balance sheet (more strict on some guidelines, no wiggle room, inability to be flexible or grant exceptions because they cannot afford to hold less than perfect loans)- Can't scale with clients to different markets- Usually limits exposure to individual investors (they don't want one investor to be too big of a portion of their balance sheet)- Lack of experience with multiple solutions (tend to have 2 or 3 loan products they sell and are too niche to provide tailored solutions)Large banks/brokerages:Pros:- Large compliance departments that understand individual market guidelines (typically each state has specific lending guidelines that augment the national baseline)- Ability to scale into multiple markets with same lender (licensed in many states)- Impossible for individual investors to "outgrow" a large bank's balance sheet (not concerned with one investor's concentration)- More lending solutions available for different scenarios- Often comparable or better rates given the game is volume basedCons:- Can be more difficult to get fast responses if the bank/brokerage does not have good follow up systems in place (or if the underwriting/processing staff gets overwhelmed)- Bad large banks can feel less like a relationship and more like a cog in a factory (less personal)Overall, I have worked from both and worked with both as a loan officer, branch manager, and as an investor/client myself. 

Especially when I compare my property to the other homes in the area because of it's proximity to a luxury golf course, the boarder of Rancho Palos Verdes (a high-end neighborhood).

Create a simple spreadsheet or written list to compare the features of each and identify the ones that align with your requirements.

Have you used BatchSkipTracing .com to compare?"

How does it show compared to comparable ones on the market?

The problem is going to be comparing the value of it compared to outsourcing it altogether.

In my opinion is unethical, and if this was a big enough company that is doing this to thousands of consumers then your class action suggestion might play a role (note I am not an attorney), but since we are talking peanuts compared to the amount in class action law suits you are out of luck.