I find it's a distinction that gets lost on a lot of folks from out of state looking in.

Ask the largest local commercial realty group who they recommend for legal and taxes.  

There is a penalty for borrowing in your IRA (UBIT tax or something similar) so you lose two of that largest advantages of real estate investing. 

The largest employers here are the state, university of texas, and then the high tech industry.I used to work for DPR which has a strong presence where you are.

The largest expense they have (taxes), they completely ignore.

TENANTS FROM HELL #1Deplorable living conditions.Running one of the largest rental portfolios in the Cleveland, Ohio area I have managed 1,000's of properties & dealt with countless tenants.

It’s the largest purchase many people will make in their life and they are relying on salesman instead of the one person involved that doesn’t have a conflict of interest nor is a salesman.To become an appraiser you have to have a minimum of 2 years as a trainee.

I took two years off from working at my construction company between 2001 to 2003 and worked with one of the largest stock and option trading schools in the country.

To answer one of your questions, one of the largest risks of turnkey investment is that the property cannot be rented at the level in the marketing proforma's, or that the costs run well in excess of those predicted. 

That is an important distinction here.