This is not as passive as other investing but it will help launch your portfolio so that you can continue to invest without needing to work additional jobs.

Checking: collect all income here, then use it to pay bills.

Therefore one of the most undervalued skills is the ability to continue to earn income independent of the real estate performance as you scale until the real estate alone becomes sustainable.

Texas is very landlord-friendly and also does not have income taxes. 

@Derick JenningsRecommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

You do have to keep an eye on your write offs to ensure you are showing a good NOI and not using too many write offs to show enough income to use for bank/lender underwriting on a mortgage/loan.

Its in a lower-income area where the current rents are $400, $650, and $800 (vacant could rent for $600).

You have no income. 

in my experience doing this in Vegas - the gross rental income is about 50% higher. 

Are you able to request their balance sheet / income statement?