Austin investors seeking advice on location and rehabs

[Bryan Newton]

Howdy everyone,

My wife and I are beginning real estate investors in Austin, TX.  We own three properties in Texas; a rental and our primary residence in north Austin and a rental in Garland (near Dallas).  

We are going to be rehabbing homes but hesitate to start out in Austin due to the incredible levels of competition and high prices.  We have 250-300k in cash available to us but would rather not put it all into one property, especially for our first project.  Moving to a location with less fierce competition and lower prices is something we're seriously considering but are running into a paralysis by analysis sort of situation, there are just so many places from which to choose.

Optimally, we would like to be all in on a flip for 150k or less.  We are currently researching San Antonio, Richmond, and Oklahoma City and have several more lined up behind those.  We've looked into the areas around Austin such as Bastrop and Killeen and like them for potential buy and holds but are unsure as to their suitability for rehabs.

Can you good folks point us towards someone who could mentor us through the flipping process in the Austin area or suggest other markets (in Texas or not) that meet our criteria?