In it for the long haul. 

Your intro sounds like you're in for the long haul, so I'd say don't stress overly on getting an awesome "deal" -- just make sure that you can rent for a few hundred dollars more than your costs, and save ALL the cash flow for the inevitable repairs, vacancies and upgrades. 

An ocean of garbage,6 dead rats later and currently up to 90-contractor sized garbage bags I've hauled out of JUST this room (really wishing I had remembered to take pics from the start, as some of the piles of garbage were towering way over me). 

Purchasing land is a great advice and I will speak to y wife about that.

Hello All,I've been toying with the idea of real estate investing for many (4) years now.

Have a demo company come in rip apart and haul off?

Being that it’s not my own home that I’ll be living in, I don’t want to “over do it”, but want to do what’s most effective and efficient for the long haul since this is strictly a buy and hold property.

Long haul or local stuff?

It's a perfect house for the long haul, and with kids in school it makes house hacking sort of more hassle than it is worth. 

At this point I plan to start using outside investment.I've also been toying with the idea of investing outside Austin, as investors in this area are forgoing all cash flows and banking on pure appreciation.