Austin and DFW are both experiencing above normal appreciation, but it's fools gold to think that will continue unchecked. 

But they insisted on that there were water leaks in the building because the water meter is back to normal right now.

neither myself or my wife are working because of her health and my circumstances have taken me out of my normal occupation of driving truck, so at this time i only work part time and have a lot of time to learn what i can to start investing....  

As @Sharon Tzib mentioned, you'll have more than normal vacancy rates with 3/1 setup.

Even realtors that get into wholesaling are doing it part time because they are working with their normal retail buy/sell clients to generate their normal income.I noticed a lot of those guru programs teach the same thing (mail to absentee and probate), making it competitive now that the market is now getting 5x as many of the same letters every week.    

Is that normal?

Fill up costs for 275 gallon tank that is 1/4 full still means you put in about 200 gallons or more; when prices crept to $4 per gallon, that's an $800 fill up that lots of tenants won't be able to cough up, or if they do the rent might be short ;) And it will need to be filled multiple times during a normal heating season; this past December, being so warm, obviously reduces that a bit this season. 

Is this normal and if so, what are some ways i can work this out?  

Like many investors, I wake up every morning with several emails about potential properties to buy.  

I did point out the other option was that they could continue paying the rent until the lease would normally expire and that I was doing them a favor allowing them to break this contract and they shut up about this "hassle" business.Gail