Honestly if you are doing STR I would suggest doing Austin itself rather than all the way out there in Kyle - maybe a couple of years ago when the prices were through the roof in Austin city itself this would be a good alternative but there is a blip right now where you can get a god entry point in Austin (downtown/east ideally) for STR

Purchase price: $161,000 Renovating now What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

Is the higher price agent inflating to get the listing or is the lower price agent just not keyed in well enough in the specific neighborhood?

Like you said, I do believe you'll see more firms with "all services under one roof" moving forward. 

(So therefore we wouldn’t have to pass on the cost of the repair to him ie. the tenant).Now, several months later, I contacted the contractor to ask if he would be to provide a price estimate for a different job at our house.

If it's a fixer upper you would account for the rehab and purchase price then compare against the ARV.

If your project incurs losses, they can help determine if those losses offset your other income or if they are carried forward.

So, while I completely understand your perspective, I’m looking for a way to balance taking calculated risks with creating a stable path forward.

However, did that stop you from moving forward?

The seller seeing the interest in their land, naturally did not want to budge on the price.