The real risk is that an investor can mess up (bankruptcy, etc.) and lose their opportunity to participate with the rest of us.

Unlike the rest of the folks here, I'm going to tell you to listen to those naysayers and the people who just don't get it.  

Is the amount of the deposit my entire spread in the deal or is it just a portion of my spread and I get the rest when the deal closes?  

If i was you, u said u only wanted to make 8k out of the deal, i would take the rest say 20k and reinvest it into marketing but thats just me because u see, now your playing with the houses money.

The rest of the country thinks we are nuts - and at times, I agree :)  I think the biggest mis-perception for New Yorkers living here is that uptown and the boroughs are not NYC.  

You can learn the rest in detail from BP.  

And the rest I designate towards people stuffing and folding and stamping...here in CA its a tough market and if I want to keep up, ill have to get to some where near $5000 a month...But the plus is here in CA one deal can net me a really big spread...

I used $500 of my rent money to reserve a spot and I was going to get the rest from my IRA account.  

I just wish I'd have done it earlier because Baltimore City is not the rest of the world! 

We are now expanding to the Tampa,St.Pete area and on throughout florida the rest of 2016.