If you can't manage a rental or tackle a basic remodel there's a strong chance of failure jumping into complex strategies.

So I gather then that TIC failures post 2008 were quite high (notwithstanding their awkward voting structure)?

And most are not ponzi schemes.Per the SEC and FINRA, some typical signs of a Ponzi scheme are promises of outsized returns (which is necessary to have a Ponzi scheme function since it needs a constant flow of new investors to avoid collapse), promises of impossible things like guaranteed returns and/or failure to disclose the true risk of an investment (to make the claimed high returns seem more plausible), etc.

You will need a lawyer.You will need an appraisal.You will need a home inspection.You will need title insurance.You will need a contract with the Seller.You will need some sort of partnership agreement if not a bog standard common law agreement as defined by your state.You will need a survey.You will need to heed the advice of the attorney in whether you need any other documents, and in what any document must provide for.You will need to have in your above documents what happens if you don’t like what is revealed or if there is a failure to get a document.The presence of a real estate agent is irrelevant to those things.Do NOT focus on saving the commission.

The Failure Rate is from people's head space more than anything else. 

Many OOS investors set themselves up for failure because they don't invest the time to ACTUALLY understand:1) The Class of the NEIGHBORHOOD they are buying in - which is relative to the overall area.2) The Class of the PROPERTY they are buying - which is relative to the overall area.3) The Class of the TENANT POOL the Neighborhood & Property will attract - which is relative to the overall area.4) The Class of the CONTRACTORS that will work on their Property, given the Neighborhood location - which is relative to the overall area.5) The Class of the PROPERTY MANAGEMENT COMPANIES (PMC) that will manage their Property, given the Neighborhood location and the Tenants it will attract - which is relative to the overall area.6) That a Class X NEIGHBORHOOD will have mostly Class X PROPERTIES, which will only attract Class X TENANTS, CONTRACTORS AND PMCs and deliver Class X RESULTS.7) That OOS property Class rankings are often different than the Class ranking of the local market they live.Class A is relatively easy to manage, can even be DIY remote managed from another state.

They're mostly failures.

I would love to hear both your success stories and your failures. 

Based on the research I've done, I believe we need a Bridge Loan. What do you think? Details below...
We need a FAST cash-out loan product that requires only the personal guarantee of my business partner (60% ownersh...

I feet that would be much better than setting the both of you up for failure.