Hopefully you already worked this out.Aside from HML, there's also an option to do a live-in-flip, where you live in the house for a year and renovate it slowly.

In my area a house call for locksmith is going to cost $75-100 just to walk in the door, so $135 all in is not that big a deal.Not a hill I want to die on....... use it as a learning moment for the tenant- ALL repairs need to be approved by you BEFORE they are done.

If you aren't going to be living in Texas then it would be tough to do a house hack there.

I've done this on one house in order to cut costs - since then, I've added a meter with the utility company but it's a good workaround for the short term. 

Property one is a 3 bdrm 2 bath with a garage that rents for $1,350 and property two is a 3 bdrm 1 bath, driveway parking, that rents for $950.Before I bought the houses, M.I.P., provided a proforma on each property.

I have a rental house with 150K left on the mortgage, I have 200k in an after tax brokerage account invested in cash, stocks and bonds.

Not trying to scare you, but a lot of lawsuits happen because the landlord doesn't follow fair housing laws, or simply neglects repairs etc.

When I tried to get it when my side of the family found out and tried tp take over reverse mortgage payments to bank because she had died it was to late so they sold the house to Hud and then other reverse mortgage companies but a relative still lives there so they can't kick them out.

In other words, I can afford the house with or without tenants. 

This facility has 144 Units and a 3400sqft shop house on the property.