2) Am I right in understanding that you can qualify a project by setting aside 20% of the units to be rented to people earning less than 50% of the AMI? 

They are in it for an easy buck and will throw you under the bus if it means they can earn some money.

This will be my next career.  

So for us in the bizz it worked great those were high earning years for me so I bought what 3 to 4 million of them and got 1.5 to 2 mil deduction off of my top line income.

It looks to me like you would be essentially giving WWC a loan to be paid back through the property's earnings or a refy or a sale...and then you would get 65% of all proceeds after you get your invested capital back...Most syndications I have seen, the sponsors offers a preferred return (6-8%) on the investors' capital until the capital gets repaid in full.

Any monies in escrow - advanced rent and/or security deposits, are not earned yet.

Hi,People always talk about how they purchase a rental property, wait a few years for it to appreciate, do a cashout refi to recoup their initial down payment, then whatever they earn in the future is infinite return.But in reality, how is this truly a "recouping of initial investment" when you have to pay a 4.5% interest to take out the cashout proceeds (with $3000-4000 of closing costs on top)?

I had it prior but had to make a career choice about 5 years ago when I was working for a dealership because it was too time consuming to keep it open. 

Early in my career, this really bit me in the tush and I am seeing many investors walking right into the same trap.

Quote from @Melanie Baldridge: It's really simple: increase earnings, reduce expenses, save, invest, and wait.