@Crystal Smith

TIR is crystal clear on things like you can't charge more than 1.5 months security for any reason, why would they be vague about this if there was a specific code?

Crystal Smith wow.

@Vincent Parello That's interesting, because my girlfriend lives right off of 30 in Joliet (Crystal lawns neighborhood) and her house has well water.

No crystal ball; just the perception that the white collar industries that drive demand for housing in our upscale areas (our niche) will continue to do well and that the desire for young families to move to the suburbs will remain a strong element of demand.   

While no one holds a crystal ball, there are literally dozens of articles citing the Austin market growth and there seems to be a fair degree of confidence among those research reports for that trend to continue.  

I don’t think his crystal ball is telling him that he just needs to carry the loss across all these properties for 9 months - he’ll take what he can now, which suddenly includes long term tenants, furnished or otherwise.

If you can be crystal clear on that, and see what you might offer that the mentor doesn't have, it may be the beginning of a fruitful relationship.

Yes, nobody has a crystal ball I know.  

My crystal ball says you're going to need to just pay the tax bill on this one.6 months ago you should have been calling every broker in town, door knocking, sending mailers, connecting with wholesalers.