I know a guy that gets 50% ownership without putting any money in because of the agreement that he has with his funding partner.

Getting funding if you are going to try to get your money back out.

Another important factor to remember is the reporting will differ depending on whether you invest cash versus one of the self-directed account funds. 

I have the funds to purchase my first apartment rental (preferably a 4 units close to West Orange, NJ).

Forming an LLC these days IMO is a great idea if you have the funds.

It has been helpful to submit the offer with proof of funding as it seems a lot of deals here fall through on the financing side.I run my analysis based on asking to be sure it works, but have managed to get around 5-7% lower.One exception was a recent buy that, in my opinion, was priced about 50K too low.made list price offer 15 mins after it went live, sight unseen.

Yes, it can be harder to get funding without a traditional W-2 income.

Glad my post led you here @Tanya JonesThey do a good job with the sales pitch and I have no doubt that someone very motivated, who had the funds but needed some real help and direction would definitely benefit from the training they offer. 

But your role is simply "fund manager". 

The buyers are reluctant to mortgage the property, so we have been looking at various ways to attract equity to fund the initial down payment.