The main question that needs to be asked is a breakdown of the acquisition costs of the property. The normal legal, stamp duty etc should be itemised. The promoter of these syndications will not directly charge you a fee for investing but will add their margin to the acquisitions cost of the property, i.e. an €8m property may end up costing €9.5m. You need to get an idea of how much these costs are to make a fully informed decision.
Gearing is a good idea where you understand the additional risk element and are prepared to take that risk to obtain higher returns. However, gearing will also multiply losses in a falling market. However, for long term investments such as pension funds I believe gearing is a welcome addition to investment options available to pension fund investors.