Most my clients tend to be out of state, high income individuals that are looking for a great return and not looking to spend 200 hrs on the project themselves.  

Interest rates and fees for commercial loans are all over the spectrum, unlike residential loans that all tend toward the median rate3.

They tend to get people to attend their seminars that have no understanding of RE Investing and think that they have to "pay to play".  

Of course, with all things, the answers to all these matters will depend on the circumstances.California tends to have more laws on the books and requirements and restrictions that it can be a good idea to form a CA LLC for out of state property so that you as a CA resident are covered, and to try to have your contracts fall under the purview of CA courts.

I believe it tends to give me a slightly lower return, because the sponsor is going to be more careful, and if there is a severe downturn will prevent me from taking catastrophic losses.

The time you spend (or pay someone) to assemble eats into the savings, plus these items tend to be lower quality to begin with.

In cases where VTB tends to work, the price the seller wants is higher than what the market will give them, so they are willing to take on some risk and wait but get the price they wanted.

Collecting 2-4 rents for 1 property tends to offset taxes more favorably.  

That's certainly one of the factors since 1sts tend to have tighter margins than junior liens.

I think the business has pretty thin profit margins and they tend to take on too many units, which results in the quality going down.