Building a down payment and a reserve fund may prolong your time window to "be ready" to invest but it will certainly make your investment more productive and promote success.

Also ALOT of HOAs in Katy, make sure they allow STR - a lot dont which is why I steer my clients to non-hoa communities when house hacking.As far as STR and Airbnb, realize you are one of the MANY trying to go this route right now as Brandon and David have switched their tone on STR and are now starting to promote the idea (convenient during the eviction moratoriums).

@Eddie Maynard - I have several recommendations, not sure if allowed to name in the forum (promoting) so feel free to DM me and I will share or make an intro. 

Flat fees on the other hand, promote nothing, the manager collects his flat fee whether its rented or not and they get the same flat fee if the rent is $1000 or $1500 so why raise the rent.Bonuses can be given but very difficult for the PM to incorporate into a PMA and keep his business consistent with all clients.

There are also companies like Zillow buying high and selling at a loss to promote their products.

People are more likely to talk to you if they know a little about you.If you have an event you want to promote, you can post in "Real Estate Happenings".

Lately I've been seeing a trend of properties that were listed on the MLS, didn't sell, and a wholesaler is now promoting them as "off market opportunities".

Have a decent website/social media to show your work, promote yourself well and build your brand, and answer your phone/make yourself available and you should be picking up work in a short amount of time.

@Curt Smith, BiggerPockets removes posts with links to sites that are connected to the poster, in accordance with our rules as we do not allow Self Promotion. 

The GP for finding the land/ deal would receive a promote as well as an IRR.