This is going to go up dramatically soon as the industry is maturing very quickly, it is driving innovation and there are many significant benefits such as, time, budget and quality.

All of which likely would boost this investments return past the S&P500's lifetime return.

@Scott WilliamsonIt’s not about the permits - are you referring to more unlicensed contractorsAlso we are seeing fix and flips in our area and now having dramatic price drops so they are not making any money.

We did a small cosmetic renovation which helped boost our appeal to the STR market.

If I get appreciation/refinances that's awesome but I am not factoring it into my plan because I would rather have it be a pleasant surprise and a boost than a disappointment that it didn't go as planned.

If you can get a 4 unit and a basement, that would be ideal and create major cash flow and equity creation, plus you can not worry about a property manager and boost your yield.

I think he can seriously boost rents from the current total of $3650 closer to $5,000/month, maybe more. 

You can sort them for real emergencies and skip the dramatics.

@Delon Hall  you better figure out the title situation ahead of time because it dramatically affects whether or not you have a deal. 

Without getting into right or wrong, I think that some large companies will have trouble moving to Texas from a political standpoint if the supreme court continues with it's current trajectory and Texas is among the first states to pass laws that depart dramatically from mainstream American politics.