One of my tenants recently moved out. The place wasn't trashed, but seems like they did no cleaning when they left. Visible dirt/dust on almost every surface, trash (including Q-tips) left on bathroom floor, toilet no...

Not all syndicators are similar, there are some that take on huge risks and they might not even realize it because for almost 10 years you could buy poorly and the rapid appreciation bailed you out, going forward they might not be able to repeat what worked before.  

There is also no target right in terms of an asset, and you need that.That's a fair point, I don't want to get in over my head but I would like to get some passive income rolling...I just need to know if there's any actual feasible way to get me started in this business at my income level.

I also wouldn't do a lease longer than 1 year because your rental comps in the area might rapidly increase as the area develops. 

I have seen COUNTLESS people get a head of themselves on this platform.

We saw this happening a little bit a few years ago when many properties were getting multiple offers, but the market has been cooling rapidly to more of a buyers market lately (in my location at least YMMV).

Bob is right that you can get better cash flow on the east side, but I still see deals pop up over there from time to time and I don't see any rapid depreciation in those neighborhoods coming any time soon and I think if your strategy is to buy and hold in nicer areas with less risk, it's a very good area to target.

Rents are declining rapidly YoY in Austin.

They would not want to make payments to you because then they would need to trust that you would in turn pay that to the lender.Most seller's considering a subject-to deal are distressed and headed to foreclosure themselves.

Always gotta be studying the market, studying your competitors, and improving your homes to exceed the rapidly increasing competition.