He could just as easily insult your weight, height, skin color, accent, or a dozen other features.

Commercial require you to have at least 20% skin in the game correct?

Most 2nd position lenders will want the investor to have skin in the game (invest their own money) AND be paid a double-digit return.When you purchase property, you ALWAYS need to have reserves, but in this scenario, you really need to have reserves since you will need to make 2 large debt payments every month.

For instance, if I manage to raise private capital to fund a deal and purchase a successful rental property, how would this actually benefit ME when I have no skin in the game (i.e. money of my own invested)?

Others may have a different opinion, but outside of a seller carry back up to 90% CLTV (still require some skin in the game, unless you go true hard money) 2nd liens on real estate for purchase transactions in the manner you're seeking are very difficult to get a loan against, whether it be a secondary market lender (private equity fund, balance sheet lender, family office, etc), and usually are seeking larger transcations ($1-3MM +) in this space, and are still capped at a max 75-80% CLTV (still wanting skin in the game).# 4 usually requires more explanation as its newer to the market (DM me if interested in discussing these options further), but all 1-4 appear to be potential options for you based on the limited details. 

@Henry HsiehTo provide a different perspective:I am NOT a property manager so I have no skin in this game  But I can tell you, as a GP involved with over 1100 units and $140M AUM, good property management is a big key to successful investment. 

For those starting out, always have some 'skin in the game.' 

Yes, grow a thicker skin.

They are not outright scams and people do some deals but you almost certainly would have been better off saving the money and profits and doing it yourself.They call the up front fee your "skin in the game". 

If you don't already own a home yourself, I always suggest house hacking as this gets some skin in the game, but also allows you to learn hands-on and offset your mortgage payments.