Seeking guidance on first RE purchase in ATX

[Michael Foley]

Hello BiggerPockets, 

I'm a 27 year old and have been living in ATX for about 18 months. I'm looking for my first home purchase and would appreciate any guidance. My goal is to buy a single family home because I like the appreciation upside and no HOA as I'd like to rent it out eventually. I am planning on putting 20% down for a home in the $400-475k price range (3Bd, 2 full bath) and house hack with one tenant. I plan to live in the home for the first few years then turn it into a rental. What I'm having trouble with is I'm seeing a lot of home that appear to be flips that are renovated and fit my criteria but there's limited value add for me to force appreciation/higher rent. I worry that if I buy a "finished product" I would be relying heavily on the appreciation. I've been trying to find something that has good bones but could use some cosmetic work (wood floors, better kitchen appliances, lighting, etc) to provide a value add to the home rather than just a turn key for appreciation. I have some cash reserves for about 10-15k of immediate repairs/improvements.

I'd be curious from other more experienced investors in the area if I'm thinking about this the right way? If so, what area or zip code would you target? I've been looking at 78745 for awhile I'm just not certain which home to pull the trigger on. Any thoughts from the group would be greatly appreciated!