You would certainly want to talk to an attorney If you are offering a rate of return, if you are advertising to strangers to solicit money, if you are not participating as a principle in the project and more.  

Now I became a California Agent/Broker in 1965 ten years after becoming an investor and if I could redo it I would have gotten my license as soon as possible.As a side note California law doesn't require me to disclose my license status when acting as a principle, but I did it anyway and it didn't screw up my life, it actually gave me more side business. 

In each deal, the investor will have first lien position and a guarantee from the company for the principle investment.What amount of annualized ROI is considered good for1) Class A buy-and-hold investments?

I do work on the principle...

Right now our houses are returning 25 - 42%  (before expensives after mortgage/taxes/insurance) returns depending on if you include principle pay down.

But if it was me, i'd sell the rental (or refi it out), pay off principle residence, and then buy awesome rentals for the rest of my life

I'd probably not even use chain-link and go for the "out of sight, out of mind" sort.I think I've been convinced that 700k+ might be too much to spend on this venture.

Same principle as receiving residual royalties for a one-off burst of creativity.Also, this does not prevent you from using your "connection guy" for other deals too.

Additionally there are a large number of Cash investors who will come in and place bids on homes sight unseen with no contingencies.

Me too...Thus, if you think that CF is fickle in principle, and what matters is building a bullet-proof balance sheet, the managing other people's property does nothing.