It's all about perception, and local officials should welcome someone taking a financial risk to make a community a better place to live. 

I think you are operating under assumptions of your perception of Texas law.

Yes, Matthew, I was differentiating between my perception of what the OP was talking about "the guy with the shovel" and what I personally pay for: The guy with plows and backhoes and myriad other pieces of equipment as well as insurance.

Understand external obsolescence factors as well, changes in social perceptions of an area can effect your holdings over time.Be careful with the assessment of market value and assessed tax values as taxes lag on a depreciating property, if it goes down at all, taxes increasing or remaining the same while rent levels drop can cost you. 

Might have a few dramas with city when doing exterior work due to historic jibba jabba restrictions lollolBased on my numbers above which are quite conservative to be completely honest with $150,000 - $200,000 in cash, and doing the above deals you can easily generate around $2,500 net per month.Most investors find it hard to believe that such figures can be bought in B class or better areas.Here is a blog I wrote on my perception of the different asset classes - http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2014/06/28/abcs-real-estate-asset-classes/Thanks for reading and have a great day.

James- To avoid any possible perception of self-dealing (using IRA funds for personal gain), it's always recommended that the non-IRA owner members are the managing members of any LLCs which include IRA investors- especially if they are disqualified to each other or any other members of the LLC.

The proper, state mandated term is now "melanin bestowed societally disadvantaged dreamer".

My points, which you missed, are more of perception.

Nathan, I hope you can get into the field and change the perception held.

Math can never replace walking the property in person, "instinct", or experience.Not advocating that we ever hole up in a basement in front of a computer and stop visiting the properties we buy, but imagine if you could begin to quantify these physical perceptions and experiences, forcing them to yield us even more potent insights.