There are organizations that can provide the family with rental assistance; every municipality has one - and the assistance covers utilities as well. 

Learn about multi family and mobile home parks. 

For most of 2024, we saw 5-6 months of inventory in the Austin area.Here are the December 2024 for Austin and the greater metro:Here’s a chart showing the median sales price of a single-family home in the City of Austin in 2024:The median sales price for a single-family home in December 2024 was up roughly 9% from the beginning of the year.

Maybe also consider if they are "good people" that work in the community and just want a safe place to raise their family. 

two families require way more cash and I don't have enough.

(The Black Friday sale on the Bigger Pockets bookstore was where I did my own Christmas shopping so my family knew what to ‘buy’ for me!).

Eventually I want to get into single family and multi family rentals.As far as effort or work on the fixers;  my brother in law is quite handy and my next door neighbor has said he would help in anything that is out of my scope of expertise. 

My wife and I are tied to this area due to being in proximity to family and we currently enjoy a farming/hobby farm lifestyle that is a big part of our family culture.

pid=2141Houston Real Estate Highlights for December and Full-Year 2024:-Following two consecutive years of declines, single-family home sales rebounded in 2024 with 85,163 single-family homes sold compared to 84,038 in 2023 an increase of 1.3 percent; -Total property sales for full-year 2024 were statistically flat at 101,864 units while the total dollar volume increased 3.1 percent to $41 billion;-December single-family home sales climbed 16.3 percent year-over-year with 7,162 units sold;-Total December property sales increased 13.6 percent to 8,478 units;-Total dollar volume for December rose 20.5 percent to $3.5 billion;-The single-family home median price edged up by 1.3 percent to $334,290 while the average price increased 5.0 percent to $425,150;-Single-family homes months of inventory expanded to a 4.0-months supply;-The townhome/condominium market experienced declining sales throughout 2024, and in December, volume declined 5.8 percent, with the average price up 2.5 percent to $268,152 and the median price statistically flat at $234,250;-Townhome/condominium inventory improved from a 3.5-months supply to 5.4 months.

Start with your closest friends and family but they will invest with you because of your relationship not necessarily because of the real estate or your real estate acumen.