I believe that he wants me to have skin in the game until more trust is developed.

My goal: to form an LLC with friends who want to partner with my in real estate investing and have an attorney draw up an operating agreement with us.Once we have some skin in the game through these small upfront investments, we'll be motivated to go out and find a property to get our money back!

The advantage to the investor is that they have no skin in the game and have control over the property. 

Also, I suggest building a solid team around you for your first few investments to get some skin in the game before branching out on your own.

This forces them to have skin in the game and I would get compensated for my time.

If there was any, you did not have many properties to work with.At the end of the 3 day workshop when they pitched the different tiers of mentorship programs, I remember an older gentleman who could be my grand pa decide not to purchase any program because after hearing all their spill he could not see or observe, I quote "Phill Grove have skin in the game" for the mentorship program.

Local Realtors should know if bond money is available.Then there are regional and small banks that can make loans, 80% would be the max and more likely 75%, but they will want the buyer to have skin in the game too.

These strategies put the maintenance on the TB or buyer and weed out less serious parties bc they have skin in the game. 

If you learn lesson number one, you will ensure that even though you have NO skin in the game, you will in future only look for / buy - BARGAINS!

It's very typical for a hotel management company to invest sliver equity into a hotel deal to get the management contract and to have some skin in the game (5-10%).