I recently went into a 50/50 LLC with a college friend to buy our first property in the college town we attended.

Also, what are you doing to make sure you are speaking to the actual landlord and not an applicant's friend posing as their landlord?

Investors can tap into this trend by building modern homes that meet current buyer preferences, offering excellent returns through sales or rentals.Investor-Friendly MarketWith fewer regulations and lower building costs, Florence provides a smooth path for new construction projects.

Also, any investor friendly agents in the area? 

Do your due diligence by analyzing deals carefully, getting inspections, and considering Houston-specific considerations like property taxes and landlord-friendly laws.

I'm hoping to make an offer to a retiring friend who has a house to sell. 

yesss you'll want to run the numbers on a few different scenarios: 1. doing a cash-out refi (new loan amount, new rate), 2. doing a HELOAN to tap into your equity... and actually, 3. selling the property and doing a 1031 into a bigger asset that will cashflow better. condos (when doing LTR) rarely cashflow much if anything. find an investor-friendly loan officer that can help you figure out which path is right for you!

Always have your business cards handy and be ready to follow up on leads promptly.Work with an investor-friendly agentRather than conduct a search independently, work with an investor-friendly agent (or multiple real estate agents) who can keep their eyes open for off-market properties.

For the 1/2 BR you are competing not only with other STR's but also in a sense hotels.4 - The Tall Timbers being STR friendly will this cause saturation with a bunch of new units coming available in the same development?

It was a great first project, I had some old friends reach out that were losing their house and I helped them get out from under the PML, bought the house and helped them repair their credit, got a contractor I knew that lived around the corner help me do a full gut rehab and put in about 1,500 hrs of my own labor into it.