The appraisal remarkable comes in at exactly what the sale price is, or occasionally less.

@Jon Huber Are you still in the Boca/Delray/Deerfield area meeting occasionally?  

Proper screening will almost always help you avoid a bad egg in the first place but bad eggs do occasionally slip through. 

I build "education time" into my schedule its usually first thing in the morning before the family gets up or last thing at night once everyone goes to bed rarely in the middle of the day but occasionally.

This can break down occasionally if the tenant makes a partial payment (I discourage that).

An even better way that I've heard is some credit cards will occasionally offer about 5% cash back for grocery store purchases.

Also there was some talk of foreclosures in the past couple years and it seems as many of these houses were renovated and face-lifted, while there are still houses occasionally boarded up.1) How is the rental market in this area?

I occasionally buy from wholesalers in Austin, but I think Hutto may be my next farming area. 

I agree with @Chris Mason that having the investment in a location you might occasionally visit at least would be favorable.

Occasionally you get lucky and get one of these assets.