We really stretched ourselves thin. we did not perform our own inspections because we were busy raising finances .. and our agent insisted we use the same company who did the initial inspections to “get a report in our name” .. we went for visual inspection with our agent and found the master bathtub was  upside down — they said there was a chip and seller was fixing the tub.

They balked when I asked them for proof of their portfolio's past performance - which led me to believe they were aiming too high. 

First: Verify the sponsor’s past performance especially for similar deals.

I have also never seen an RE syndication offering without an appreciation play.while mostly my purchases (all but 1) have had some cash flow, my last one was negative cash flow using 50% rule (which was fairly accurate to my detailed underwriting) and goes positive this year but in 2.5 years I have value ~$500k above costs.  

Even just an accurate rent estimator would be huge.

Things are expensive in Florida but you can still find "deals" or properties that will perform where you can get 10-25%+ CoC returns. 

I was looking at the website Propertyrecords.com, but I am not sure how safe or accurate it is.

So, they aren't in a position to take a property back if the buyer doesn't perform.

hello-q: i hope that you have quite the plethora in information about the decide to..build a square space (office like in function) right next to house-to have "reason space" to work from home ('i am forced to work from home bcs of having parent who survives a stroke-cared for on/in house property, bcs putting her instead in assisted living-wouldn't be more affordable/feasable, and many states (california being one) are willing to help loved one(s) to age/stay in place as reason to build these extra spaces in/on property..putting her in the situation as more benefitting i am researching the state orgs to find out what to do=being as stellar the careful/accurate as i can with gathering as to what to do..including the obtain of funding per any grants.and trusting that having your consultation has us getting away from issue/noise over just purchasing/happenstance model in default assisted: residential (multi bed home stead-with all the red tape & fees/tax justify better?

@Jason GriffinRecommend exploring as many sources as possible to get referrals AND cross-reference them to get as much accurate information as possible.Check out NARPM.com, BP’s Property Manager Finder (BiggerPockets: The Real Estate Investing Social Network), etc.Also, encourage you to learn from the mistakes of others - by reading posts here on BiggerPockets about owners not having their expectations met by their current Property Management Company.