While I’m based in California, I’m looking to begin house hacking a duplex, triplex, or quadplex in Houston, Texas, and build from there.I’m looking forward to continuing to learn, becoming a property owner, and taking full control of my time and life to eventually quit my 9-to-5.

Your program sounds spot on, I like the "graduating" to less restrictive properties, but initial intake into the most tightly controlled home.The NIMBY factor is certainly an obstacle, but can be overcome with persistence (of legal action to enforce one's property rights, assuming one is in a correctly zoned area).something that could be added is work outreach program, as the ability to find work after recovery is obviously critical.

It gives you much more control and oversight.  

I went from 5 rentals to 19 during that time.I know others who are much better at systems, networking and controlling rehab costs than myself who scaled much larger, much faster, and never ran their own marketing.Hopefully this context helps.

Short-term rentals would be a solution, but due to strict short-term rental laws in rent-controlled areas of Los Angeles, options like Airbnb are typically not feasible.At present, I have a $5 million property in Encino with two units that we cannot rent out short-term due to rent control regulations, and the numbers don’t work for a long-term rental either.

Given that the house is paid off but has $27K in back taxes, you could offer to cover those taxes upfront in exchange for favorable terms on the remaining balance—like low (or no) down payment, and small monthly payments.You could also negotiate for a subject-to deal where you take over the property subject to the taxes, while still securing control of the property for your BRRRR strategy.

The agreements I've seen basically say you are guaranteed nothing, you could lose all your money, you might not be paid on time or ever, you can't rely on any representation made by the GP, you have no control over the operation and other terms and disclaimers to that effect.

Ensure your finances are under control, completely.

If you want more control, you can set up your own systems for rent and communication, but a good property manager for out of state investing is the way to go.

There is no way that resident can afford a 500 jump, and I ended up losing thousands of dollars.Real estate is a business, collecting a future stream of revenue, and you need to be in control of the revenue and expensesGino