During that same amount of time, you could've invested $5,000 into a software business and scaled it up to $10k monthly recurring revenue or $100k a year in less than 6 months (very hypothetical, but you get the point).Sure, you can get higher cash on cash return percentages for larger size deals, but it still takes so much more time to get a return (since your investment dollar amount also grows in proportion)....I was really interested in learning more about investing in multi family deals, until I came to this realization.

He said I will get back the assignment fee plus split the percentage of profit based on how much cash he has to put in vs how much 'cash' I have in the deal.

Quote taken from here: http://www.irs.gov/uac/IRS-Issues-Home-Sale-Exclusion-RulesFor qualifying sellers, the maximum exclusion amount of $250,000 ($500,000 for a married couple filing jointly) is limited to the percentage of the two years that the person fulfilled the requirements.

Additionally Phila has a high percentage of its housing being 80 years of age and up.

Some have a limit on percentage of units that are allowed to be rentals, and once that limit is reached no new rentals until a rental sells to an owner occupant; some require approval of your chosen tenant if they do allow a rental. 

Crowdfunding by the legal standards of the term CANNOT give a percentage of the profits ~ and this is exaclty what these sites promise.

@Kevin Dawravoo, from where I sit, your net "cash flow" (per month average) divided by "the amount of money you have put into the property" IS your Return On Investment.Of course, when you are analyzing any potential deal, all income and expense amounts are "mythical" to some degree - the trick is to become a good guesser, and there are plenty of available tools to help.The overall value of the property is perhaps the least relevant figure here, except as it relates to your tolerance to RISK in calculating your borrowings as a percentage of the actual property value.

Others say you just take the percentage you contribute and 10% for managing it. 

Make 20 offers and you'll get 1 deal done (my percentage now is higher because of experience but 5% closing ratio is about right when you're starting out).

Not big money, but with very little money out of your own pocket, the percentage returns should be astronomical.You haven't said a word about operating expenses as a buy and hold nor rehab costs to get the property to "safe, clean and livable" (which normally will be well below the cost to make a property marketable for retail sale.)