Knowing the lease details and tenant situation is crucial for planning your move and managing the property effectively.Overall, your plan seems like a solid approach to kickstart your real estate investment journey.

After doing some due diligence, multi-family seems to be the best route for me to take.

This seems like exactly the type of community that would bad STRs though, so I'd definitely be diligently researching local laws.

Seems like the hottest area right now for that is West Dallas around Singleton and Hampton.Some in Oak Cliff as well especially on East Side of 35.You're a warrior though if you're building spec homes as a small builder. 

Seems like this makes sense in terms of risk mitigation, estimating values/deals, etc.How do you go about finding the data to make such a classification especially as a new investor?

@William Hutchmaybe start with a live in flip a bit away from the cityi would not partner with multiple people on your very first one - that seems like a disaster waiting to happenhigh rates are just where the market is right now

I find that school districts matter more it seems.

So while things may seem difficult right now, remember the US is doing absolutely fantastic compared to everyone else.

I thought maybe she’d like the increased income and reduced liability as she approaches 90 years old but I see the tax issues might be too big an obstacle as she does seem pretty well off. 

SoCal CAP rates do seem to be 5% from the redfin descriptions I read on some of them.I'd much rather buy a 1 million dollar SFH in north county than a 1 million dollar 4 unit in a low income neighborhood.