After being a landlord of commercial real estate for 18 years, I say invest by yourself, especially since you have experience! I agree with all the reasons stated above. I watched my accountant go from doing a "limited partnership" and highly recommending them, to five years later losing a ton of money. He said, "I had no control and lost all my money."
Two other examples.... my father has owned commercial property for 40 years. The only time he has gotten into trouble was when he had partners in different projects.
A guy I know is a developer that somehow convinces people to invest, (sometimes the realtors come to him begging to do projects!) and several of the projects he has done over the years have gone bad. He has literally lost millions of people's dollars and will never have the chance to pay them back. He just cannot earn enough in one lifetime. He is not the only one.... he tells lots of stories where others he knows have done the same thing. They don't mean to do it.... the market downturns and systems go awry. They just lose the money and their hair too! :)
Just invest in something you can control. Or invest just the money you don't mind losing. Then when it turns out positive....you scored!
