Every financial planner....and I mean every single one....will advise that you absolutely need to have 3-6 months saved for an emergency fund. 

This gives you back your lines of credit for other use (emergency use) and now you don't have ridiculous interest rates. 

Work with emergency services to be sure it's safe to go in to start pumping it out.

Is for the police/fire department in an emergency?

All this to say, a voluntary vacancy in January is filled with temptation to either lower one's standards or pay a high price in utility bills, insurance premiums and potentially emergency repairs. 

@Abhi Patel Hot emerging markets in Texas that I know of right now are in the Anna area (North of Plano and Dallas), Haslet area (North of Fort Worth), Aledo (West of Fort Worth), Georgetown (North of Austin), Buda (South of Austin, Northeast of San Marcos).

Since you don’t need to put money down I can use the money I do have to make any emergency purchases for the home while I wait for the reserves to build up from the rental payments

I do however have a old beater fridge that I have as a emergency back up, works like a charm, that I will sometimes use for tenants like yours.I dislike the type of entitled tenants you are dealing with and generally have made a mistake in screening if I end up with them.

There are additional costs up front in purchasing and you must hold back reserve funds to insure you have the cash for emergency repairs. 

On Tuesday I approved an emergency maintenance request from management company for an a/c not working on 2nd & 3rd floors (bedroom floors).