That has a large impact on your holding costs.

Any assumptions about standard or quality of construction (materials), the parking or other details that would not impact the square footage and style (brick, wood, steel frame, etc)?

With a low down payment, I worry about bigger picture impacts down the road, particularly when it comes to getting access to equity for the sake of scaling my portfolio.

There are defenses to liability for property owners whose property is impacted by contaminated groundwater from an off-site source so long as you exercise what is known as "reasonable care". (2) since you will be using this for self-storage, this will be considered a commercial, not residential use, and many states have less stringent standards for commercial properties since people are not occupying the property 24/7. (3) If the levels in the groundwater would pose a risk of vapor intrusion (vapors migrating up from groundwater), you can install a passive sub-slab depressurization system (ssds) that acts like a radon system-capturing the vapors before they can get into the structures.(4) if soil is contaminated and you plan to pave the surface, this will generally be sufficient remedy if the soil contamination is at depth.

Regardless if your in Houston or pretty much anywhere a bad foundation is going to negatively impact the value when you are ready to cash out in whatever exit strategy you decide on. 

You don’t want these inspections done with the intention of saving you money on ignored deferred maintenance turning into little nickel and dime maintenance issues that seriously impact your bottom line. 

I would also venture that their credit is so good that the foreclosure hit has minimal impact.

The nominal impact to your premium cost is much less than the administrative cost of a whole other LLC.

Learn how to use it in a way that diminishes the cost impact.  

For example, a steep access or driveway -- or even a winding drive up a mountain --  will hurt rentals from late-Nov thru early March as snow/ice will impact access.