If anyone has any tips, words of encouragment, I would appreciate it!

Your A/C and furnace are improvements to the HVAC building system, and thus the building unit of property.The $5,000 will most likely have to be capitalized, but there are caveats within the DMSH, as well as other options such as the small taxpayer safe harbor (STSH).Encourage you to work with your tax CPA/EA as they'll know your facts, circumstances, and goals.

@Kelly JacobssonWelcome to BP and the Knoxville area, I host a monthly meet-up that draws some experienced investors as well as those just breaking in or wanting to link to meetup postIf you're serious and with your background I'd also encourage you to check out the KnoxREIA.

@Jason Hendrickson, @Chris Babcock, @Frank Wong, @Brian Ellis, Account ClosedAll, thank you so very much for the kind words, encouragement, and genuine concern. 

Ok, I'll bite.1000 gross rents-142 monthly HOA-34 property tax-25 insurance-100 maintenance/capex-50 vacancy-0 property management, which you will be doing yourself___________________________________________$650/mo, or 7.8k a year, or 5.5% rreturn on your 140k invested... but you will also be doing all of your own showings and dealing with all of your tenants as a part-time property manager, and you're opening yourself up to the prospect of a special assessment wiping out YEARS of profits, all for a return that is strictly less than what an S&P500 index fund would return to you on average.NB that these numbers are based on an extremely conservative vacancy rate and low low low maintenance figures and an HOA that never increases...Still a bad deal, IMHO, and I would encourage you to consider other options.

@Ezana Berhane Kavanaugh Thanks Ezana, just came back from visiting Austin and this is encouraging and loved the area!

My primary question I seek to have answered by posting this post is fairly straight forward, yet I encourage debate concerning metrics and comparisons.  

The other way is to attend REIA club near you and give them a criteria buying sheet for the investor to fill out so when the property comes up you know who you call.I hope those ideas above will help you out and encourage you to stay in the game.

Thank you for encouragement, this is my second investment property and so far the plan is working.  

Thank you for the encouragement @Jeremi Singletary !