This could allow you to reinvest the proceeds directly into one or more properties in Houston, which seems to align with your goal of expanding locally.Leverage New Construction Opportunities: I work with Neu Real Estate Group in Indianapolis, where we focus on high-quality duplex builds that are designed with strong rental returns in mind.

On the sell side, you definitely want to push the quality button.

I ended up in Cleveland and Memphis and one of the companies I'm working with is yours :)I'm not sure I know enough to not lose my original investment, but I just got tired of making excuses for myself and felt like I was in a decent enough financial position (very grateful for that) to take a chance and if all goes poorly I figured I'd at least get a solid education and foundation to build from.

STR with PM is not generating significant higher return (this year 2 STRs are behind if they were LTRs but we had a poor off season).- Self managing STR can increase the return compared to LTR if you do a good job.  

Do you know where these people get quality work and contractors for that price?

The quality of the home surpass the quality that these other builder homes are making.

Even if it were new, they have no idea about the quality or manufacturing imperfections. 

There's certainly other aspects that you need to consider such as pricing, quality of photos & overall listing, is it clean/repairs are done, if there's tenants are they being decent to people during showings, are you requirements reasonable etc... 

Some contractors have insurance, some are 1 man band with no overhead, quality of work factors into cost, level of finishes.We created a calculator for our clients to use here in Chicago, specific to our renovation pricing, but even that is just a guess based on some assumptions.If you can find a quality general contractor, pay them like @Bruce Woodruff mentioned, and it will make your life so much easier...you may eat into some of your profits, but being able to rinse and repeat with someone you trust is priceless!

Have you ever had difficulty getting a loan with poor credit?