My wife and I have been doing an MTR-exclusive startegy for 3.5 years, and we still have a hard time figuring out how to predict vacancy, especially in a new market that we're considering.If we look at FF's (pretty crummy) data on their website we either see very few listings, so we think "no one is investing here; bad" or we see a lot of listings and think "too much competition; bad". 

I am still a rookie in real estate investing and am looking for some insight.

Hello all, I have never invested with a partner before but looking at possibly doing it in the near future.

Written by attorney investors, it's full of practical advice about the management of investment property, has sample forms that can be edited, and - most importantly - tells you what your primary state laws are and where you can read them.

As someone with no experience investing into a syndication, is this normal, a red flag, or possibly ok depending on other variables?

Even if I 1031into an actual investment property?

Are you thinking single story or two stories?

I think this is a personal choice based on your investing appetite. 

I'm new to this community, and new to investing in general. 

Start by reading the Ultimate Real Estate Investing Guide: https://www.biggerpockets.com/guides/ultimate-real-estate-investing-guide/introduction2.