I don't mind paying tax at all, but a gross receipts tax is an outrage  ... actually, I think Americans complained about that once, something about a tea party.

Sounds to me like single tenant net leased properties would be your cup of tea (STNL).

I also read the tea leaves of "guess which neighborhood will become hip and gentrified" very well. 

. - Yeah both of our flips (our first and our current) have been through courthouse auctions.The advantage to them is that its a limited crowd unlike the online auction sites, so you can get some deals (we had around a 100k profit on our first deal) but the disadvantages are (1) most auctions are fruitless so you waste a lot of time going for nothing, and (2) you dont get to see inside the property before the auction - so there can be some ugly surprises.Depending on your market and the competitiveness it may or may not be your cup of tea

Possibly we could do this over a few cups of coffee or tea in the day or evening.

I have a tolerance for tough neighborhoods (currently looking to invest in an area of Philadelphia that is an open air drug market), but this area is not my cup of tea.

It is good to leave some bagels or similar, juice, coffee, tea and maybe bottled water to get people started at least for their first morning in case they are arriving too late to shop.

If that's not your cup of tea, There's still Manor, Buda, Round Rock, or even San Marcos and many other tertiary markets before you have to go all the way to San Antonio.I've never rented to military people, but I have been a military renter, so I'll give you this word of caution: are you familiar with what renting to a college student is like?

bottom line your an investing genius and good at reading the tea leaves  :)  we love Toledo  although I have never been there .. flown over it a bunch... and by the way I was waiting for you in Vegas on Monday you were a no show.

I'm personally not a fan of partnerships, just not my cup of tea.