For example, we had several years with really small amounts of taxable income, should we have distributed more out of the 401K earlier and reinvested post tax? 

If he did have an equity interest he would have been receiving a distributive share equal to that interest every year.

If you have multiple units fed from one tank you could set up smaller tanks for each place or distribute the cost between them all.

The mortgage payment was derived simply by taking a 80% LTV at 4% over 30 years.

Return structures, fee structures, the profit split, distribution expectations, communication expectations,etc all vary company to company and even offering to offering.Often times you must be an accredited investor to invest in a syndication, which means 200k income individually (300k jointly with spouse) for 2 years or 1m+ in net worth (not including primary residence)Though there are syndications that do not have that requirement, the returns are usually lower from my experience.

Took money from my Union vacation fund account(in the Carpenters Union we don't get vacation days, we get a few bucks per hour that distributes once a year). 

The property cashflows $1,025/month after insurance and distributed property taxes.

Savvy team members understand the Pareto distribution --- so they want to work with investors that they can get consistent work from.

there is a reason this is done this way.. and its called MARKETING... keep in mind Commercial brokers do this every day with every flyer I see on apartment complex's the cap rate is almost always derived by best case blue sky not actuals  its up to the buyer to decipher actuals.. and when you buying in the SFR turn key space you have NO actuals you have what your turn key providers is telling you things should work out to.. rent should be this.. and since I just rehabbed it  cap ex over time should be this.. and turn over costs should be this.. and so on and so forth.. so no way to know what your going to make on any rental until you owned it 5 years and have actuals. 

Data from the American Community Survey shows the following distribution of units by building size in the Pittsburgh market11,240 units being reported as located within a three to four unit building suggests a total of about 3,200 buildings.