I'd advise only doing it if you have a team of re professionals who can help make the process run more smoothly, I.e Property Management, Contractors, City's officials relationships and of course the extra capital availabale for vacancy, unexpected occurances.

Every landlord get's swayed by a smooth talking sob story at one time in their career, only to regret it later!

I am doing this completely for free, just to help them out and make sure they get a good tenant and everything works out smoothly and my grandmother's expenses are covered. 

Bought the house through a local wholesaler (which was not a very smooth process due to poor communication within the wholesaler company and with us.

You and others may have had bad experiences but there's a huge amount of mortgage reps doing deals across the country very smoothly.  

Futures markets smooth the fluctuations in the market price out.

Based on the wording of the website, I'm a little unclear on how the repair spend thresholds work in a historic area and what permit I would need, depending on which projects I decide to take on (windows/doors, decks, fences, roof, appear to require a permit in any situation).I really appreciate any recommendations or direction you all can provide, so I can make the process as smooth as possible.

I currently buy in Houston, and you really have to have the best GC and Property manager, and everything will go smooth.

Are most of these people game players, deceiving sellers, etc?

Every decision and initiative by the sponsor team should be rooted in preserving investor capital.The five capital preservation pillars used in real estate syndication deals include:Raise money to cover capital expenditures upfrontPurchase cash-flowing propertiesStress test every investmentHave multiple exit strategies in placePut together an experienced team that values capital preservationWhen browsing for your next real estate syndication investment, go ahead and soak in the pretty pictures, daydream about the projected returns, and imagine how smoothly that business plan might go.