I am a Jacksonville broker with experience with 1031 exchanges, but these properties are in 3 separate markets.

I'm sure there are many more experiences where the contractor hasn't fulfilled their scope of work and gotten away with rushing the project to meet the deadline, And, I don't want to be as naive to say that I'm that 1% who can have complete quality/operational control, but I'm confident I can establish a system and hire independent inspectors to review the contractor's work. 

If so, I'd love to hear about your experiences!

I know I know getting property won't be an issue, I've done it once and that experience helped me so much, but what if i wanted to acquire two properties this year?

I would talk to some lenders  getting land loans and development loans with no experience is next to impossible starting out.. 

You don't need to know everything to get started; you need a foundation to build on, and the rest will come through experience and then refining your education.You can build a basic understanding of investing in 3-6 months.

If so how was your experience?

If you get enough experience doing exactly what you did with your first property there are lenders that would no require your purchase to "season".

For now, staying local allows me to leverage my property management experience—most of which came from working directly for family and close business associates who were property managers, contractors, and business owners.

Asking to anyone who has experience, knowledge or connections in these southern texas markets, how has this or does it affect your real estate strategy and returns?