And I hope to be ready to buy within 9 months (we are moving from LA)  Agents that aren't keeping deals to themselves (or friends) are a rarity.

If your goal is personal-use real estate, cashing out the 403(b) is an option, but it will incur income tax and a 10% penalty, significantly reducing your available funds.

Since your friend covers utilities, this offsets some of your cost.

Still landlord friendly.

Finder's fees of 30% of first month of rent that one of my friend paid in Collin county.

We are already surrounded on three sides by urban zoned homes.My neighbors and I have been approached by two individuals, one is a neighbor who is a real estate agent, and the other one a friend of a neighbor, who works with a real estate attorney; both individuals asked us to join them in working with the 5-6 developers they have approached.

In today's world you need to be about 28-35% down on properties to be gross cash flow positive, closer to 40-42% to be truly net cash flow positive(i.e 50% of your income goes to maintaining the property, other 50% is actually profit).My recommendation is to buy ideally a 4/3 SFR that's a starter-friendly one in a good area, and rent it out by the room.

To maximize cash flow, find suitable properties, analyze numbers, and focus on student-friendly amenities.

Friends of friends look good, anxious to take possession asap, even tell me openly they will be on the street by dd/mm/yy.We have to treat them just like every other applicant, even though we didn't sign up to be a Social Service for the County. 

Hi, I have a friend who owns a house outright and uses it as an airbnb.