@Kate J. my personal opinion is that with that kind of initial capital, you should find your residence here in Austin in an area close to work and/or leisure activities that you enjoy, and deploy the rest elsewhere.You can explore different markets, different niches, etc that can (and most likely will) provide much better returns  than Austin has to offer.

If they can prove a real paranormal experience they can write books, movies, TV appearances. 

They watch a TV show or late night infomercial and think it is a easy way to get rich quick... and then find out it takes time and work and they move on

I rent out a couple of SFR's where tenants are largely responsible for the property....yard maintenance, snow removal, utilities (gas, electric, water, tv, etc). 

She sounded like I caught her in the middle of TV watching with friends.So, I went back to Google and did some more searching. 

I'm realizing many other's in our country haven't figured that out.The best thing most people can do is turn off the TV.

@Melvin List,His HELOC lender WILL be concerned about his CLTV (which around here is known as "Chicago Land TV").

I looked at some of this type of housing in Hattisburg MS  a while back I thought this was a cool plan these were new.house was a basic rectangle.. came in the front door kitchen to the right galley style  then you had a great roomoff of the great room there were 4 doors 2 on each side leading straight into bedrooms that also had private baths and closets.. so each student had their own space.. central area for TV and social and one kitchen and table to eat on.Very basic design easy to build.. and these had scored concrete floors so little more to build but no replacing carpet when beer bongs spill over.. :)  no carpet at all in the house.Just have to put a few more toilets and showers in.. 

Half of the rentals that I walked through had the alarm sans-battery because the idiot tenant needed a TV remote more than a smoke alarm (usually these are smokers, too).

What quality of person is going to sit in a property overnight with only a sleeping bag or cot, an electric hotplate and maybe a small TV?