I commend you on your drive and fortitude.Although real estate investing encompasses many areas, one area of investing that has brought me much success is sending out offers to owners, Cameron.Happy to help further. 

In Houston: a nice loft or condo downtown encompassing hardwood 10ft ceiling or so 1000+ sqft......, taxes would run about 2.96-3.03%....and if you homestead chop a good 30% off those numbers, add some building fees per anum.....could be anything....

you can try Affinity Group Management, 800-790-4872, they work with just investors. but their deductibles are higher, around 2.5k.if you have encompass, their rates are the best. 

Im looking for an all encompassing agent (acquisition, project management, property management).

He has a virtual note buying for dummies bootcamp that encompasses all of the questions you have.

I implore you to look very carefully at specific streets as these neighborhoods are very inconsistent.  46203 - This encompasses a lot of areas. 

By that I mean some people want to their lease to be as short as possible, other want it to be 100% encompassing which makes them 10+ pages long.

The development encompasses residential, commercial, and hospitality components and consists of two parts: Phase 1 comprises 3 buildings located at 248 Tioranda Avenue and Phase 2 comprises 8 buildings located at 555 South Avenue.

It's just that I talk to people every day that have been sold a bill of goods.....many from right here on BP....and been frustrated because expectations were not managed well amid all of the hype.The best way I've found to go about conquering any market is to do a deep analysis of what is available, determining first who owns what you're looking to buy, and second who has the ability to sell it at a discount, and then to come up with an encompassing strategy to reach them all consistently and persistently until they are ready to sell.You do that, then automate it the best you can and you will have created a pipeline that will consistently spit out deals on the other end.

I use Safeco, Encompass and Allied.