They are sponsors for Memphis Investors Group and work with a lot of real estate investors.  

If one or two factors are aggressive, its a good (or great) area, and I trust the sponsor if making a passive investment, I'm ok with that.  

Anybody knows a sponsoring broker in the area willing to work with a part time investor?

However, it's not the right choice for every sponsor or every property.

Second there are many different ways to get into real estate investing whether it be single family residences, buy and flip homes, buy and hold as rentals, invest in apartments as a passive investor or by being active lead sponsor which you mentioned you’d want to be active I’m focused on the apartment arena so I can give you my two cents on apartment syndication from a passive aspect and more active approach.

I work in CRE lending and I've never looked at a sponsor's W-2.

They tried to get out of it but my sponsor had text me about the guarantee and I took a snapshot so I said I had it in writing.

not sure if your staying in WA with no state income tax.. but a lot of the folks i know that are high net worth invest in tax free muni bonds  AAA rated.. rates have been low but they are rising.. might be worth talking to your broker about.I would diversify.. and NOTES  would be a nice way to go for cash flow as well just get with a great HML there in seattle and let them place your loans for you.. lower your rate so you can cream the borrowers... if the local HML are at say 2 and 12 put your money our for 9 but be ultra picky.. risk of loss remote.. hassle factor none .. fun in looking at potential loans off the charts.. and return great.. the thing about pooled investments is just that your one of many if they go TU you stand a very good chance of principal loss... so if U went that route sponsor is CRITICAL and I would limit your investment with them to no more than 10% of your portfolio.. at that point principal protection is utmost not necessarily return...  

It probably helps when you have a good sponsor who intends to make you whole. 

That's probably not the right word... but they have sponsors and speakers etc.