A potential life change - guidance appreciated

[Jason Schmidt]

I've had an interest in real estate for years now, but because of "life" I just haven't pulled the trigger on ... anything.  Finding a house for my folks has given me the bug again, and I'm using this as a jump off point to really seriously consider getting into real estate investing.  

In the past 2 years, I've gone from being busy running a fairly successful computer related business (and burned/stressed out about it) to taking that part time and doing other odds and ends like buying/selling/trading things.  It seems like I'm on autopilot.  While our net worth is growing, it is slow.  

I currently find myself debt free, with our primary residence (worth about 125k)  paid off, 215k in the bank and 20k in mutual funds.  My initial thought was going to be to purchase a 100k or so house for my folks with cash, (and have them pay me a reduced rate for rent) but now I'm not so sure that is the best way to go about it.  

If you were in my shoes, and you wanted real estate to be the bulk of the income producer for you, what would you do?  I am in the Houston area, by the way - apparently the housing market is hot right now.  Thanks so much in advance!