Structures for a potential silent partner

[Lawrence Li]

I have recently heard about a format of real estate investing that I am interested to learn more about.  As I understand it:

• A "syndicator" who is familiar with a market and strong management teams finds deals that require capital primarily for real estate acquisition (but not exclusively: I have heard of funding the launch of mobile home parks, public storage facilities, and other relatively low-complexity real-estate based operations)
• The syndicator then sources capital from a list of people who are qualified for being able to write a certain check size (in the cases I've heard, this ranges from $20k to $100k)
• Each of these people can opt in or out of the deal, which is funded on a first-come / first-serve basis
• The deal is structured as an LLC, with a distribution waterfall that starts with the capital invested plus 8-12% accrual in a "preferred tier" followed by a common tier which is diluted by management (~15%) and by the syndicator (~20%)

Is this a common practice?  How does an investor get qualified to get on these lists of silent partners?

Thanks in advance!