It will be very difficult to cash flow in Austin using traditional LTR methods unless you put down a huge down payment.

Love the strategy of doing the work that so few others are willing to do.

I realize it's just an example and my comment is a generalization but just something to be aware of.With regards to the original question, I think it comes down more to what you want to do and what the offer is for walking away vs. rebuilding.That is the exact example a public insurance adjuster used when speaking to a local investor group a few years ago.

What kinds of deals do you prefer?

But that wasn't the question, The question was CAN you do it, not HOW do you do it. 

After the demo, there really is not much you can do to save outside of thinking outside the box on fixing whatever that might be that has come up. 

It will be extended, we'll see a reduction in regulations that hamper small businesses, and we'll see new regulations that help small businesses.

You might be doing something right by not buying.  

We have an opportunity coming up from a family member who is willing to sell us my childhood home for what they got it for (240k) and the comps in that neighborhood are 600k+.

Must be market by market or builder by builder.