For clarification:  You make it sound like you are staying with your parents, but then you imply that you might move into this 40k house? 

I’m ready to pull out my credit card and pay someone Big bucks to train me when in reality most of the trainers know less than I do :-) my kind wife usually correctly or incorrectly thinks I’m so smart she discourages me from much more paid training.

That means all the gain is calculated in year of sale.Seller financing normally implies that a portion of the sales price is received in a year after the sale.

As my colleague, @Ryan Kelly implied, 1M for 10-15 units would get nowhere near the OP's requirements in Austin or surrounding markets like Cedar Park.

That's just the reality.My guess is at most 100% brokerages you'll find less training rooms, less training calendars, less trainers, less sharing. 

As the title implies, I am interested to hear if others have had experience with Glastonbury Thorn (website: g t h o r n .com).

This implies a tenant can destroy the unit, not pay you rent, bring in as many guests as they desire, have as many pets as they desire and you cannot evict them (assuming it does not cross the line of health and safety). 

In addition, just because items are depreciated for tax purpose over 27.5 years does not imply a life span of 27.5 years any more than replacing a water heater depreciated over 27.5 years implies the water heater has a 27.5 year expected life span. 

You said stationed in CA, which implies military.

Note this is not to imply I am predicting a crash more that I am expecting appreciation to more closely be associated with the inflation rate.