Their expertise, tools, and resources were a critical determining factor for me.

Does anyone with more expertise than I, have any advice on the matter?

You have to set up properties, units, tenants, bank accounts, chart of accounts, and some other things.Again and again, not sure why investors decide to go focus on "accounting" when their expertise is in "investing".

Highly suggest working with a specialized agent instead of trying to align your goals with an agent's expertise.

Id suggest reading the eBook as @Darren Sager suggested and, also, setting up keywords that best fit your interest and expertise i.e..

The mortgage note in itself is a form of protection and you need substantial equity before you need to worry about an LLC, and even then you still need to do other forms of risk mitigation.Plus, with the rental in CA, that comes with additional complications due to the expensive $800/year/LLC fee so other structures might be more beneficial (like DSTs) - talk with @Scott Smith, he can provide expertise to the particulars of your situation.Here is a diagram to help you on your quest: asspro-cya-diagram-v6a-solo-401k (but half of it might not apply to your case as you might need/want a DST):

And if there is a certain amount of expertise in the niche then your probably wise to keep your mid November call. if your just shopping for a home I suspect you can do that on line .. everything is listed on line these days..

If the property is in good condition and can be sold quickly to another investor or end buyer, wholesaling could be more efficient.Your Expertise: Consider your experience and expertise in real estate.

Thanks for the expertise. 

Benefits of Syndication compared to traditional real estate ownership and management:- passive income with no work needed from you at all- economy of scale since you'll have more units that you can buy on your own- diversified risk since units' vacancies are less impactful on your overall revenue- team of professionals that should have experience and expertise if its a good syndicateCons of syndication compared to running your own real estate:- Less or no input on decisions on managing the property- Typically locked into a term where you cannot access your money for any reason- Potentially better returns owning and managing your own property due to having to pay various fees to the syndication (ie. syndicates are often structured so they take an annual fee for management of the property operations, annual fee for handling property asset management, fee at the time of sale of any appreciation profits).