What are you expecting from this post? 

I have broken down 4 key benefits to a retirement account: 1) Compounding interest in the absence of taxation (particularly with a Roth IRA) 2) Ability to self-direct into alternative assets, like real estate, private real estate partnerships/syndications, crypto, gold & silver and other alternative investments. 3) Credit protection (see state specific laws), but generally inherent protections. 4) Upon death, if setup properly, probate avoidance 

Not the cash flow play a lot of people expect. 

@Rafael Valdor some advice when screening PMCs-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend 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.

Thank you Nick - unfortunately it is the name of the game in this space that there will be people with bad experiences, typically when the appraised value doesn't come in as what they expect and they lash out at the lender accordingly (anyone in this space obviously understands this occurrence). 

Look for books published in the last 2 years as some of the books post 2010 seem to give people unrealistic expectations.

The full 5 year proforma is free to give you a good look at what to expect on the deal.

For those that are not leased already, the current expected leasing time is anywhere from 30-45 days. 

The truth is if your investors have no involvement in the operations, If they just put in money and expect to get a profit, you have created a de facto syndication.2) I see a ton of people who just raise money for the syndication. 

Many early investors put too much pressure on their first purchase and have unrealistic expectations.