Hi Penny i'm actually an investor that resides in Odessa as well and my realtor actually just sold a duplex recently and in that area they have several occupied duplexes and some for sale.

Depending on comfort and cash, it might be a viable option as you can build equity and then sell without having capital gains, assuming it's your primary residence and you've lived there for 2 years.

Investment Info:Single-family residence fix & flip investment.

This worries me a little.

You could also offer to cover part of their tax liability through negotiation or encourage them to convert the property into their primary residence to use the IRS exclusion for up to $250K/$500K in gains.

Your income isn't high enough for it to make sense as a rental and the closer you get to your residence limit the greater pressure you will have to sell it before losing your exclusion in whole or part. 500k right now can make $15k per year income with zero maintenance or tenant risks. 

Just shoot me a DM.

If that means renting out part of your residence, that's great for cash flow and experience. 

.: Same exact thing happened to me.

Hence the lot on which the house resided was taxed at a 45% discount based on actual value, while the tennis lot was taxed at about 4 times what it should have been by value.