You will gain a lot of experience managing your self, however, if your situation changes and you need to place the property under management you want to make sure that it will still cash flow.  

Personally, I'm a Self-Storage Guy, so I'd perform a basic feasibility study to see if Self Storage Would work in this market, and if not, then pursue a conversion to the larger units.  

Don't really need to so long as you have proper bookkeeping.Assume they don't put their name on the deposit slip:1) If the tenants paid by check, a lot of banks shows a softcopy on the online system, so you figure out who paid based on the check image.2) If both pay cash AND they are the same amount, the easiest way is to ask the tenant to send a copy of the receipt (using smartphone) to your property manager, who will then forward to you, so you will know.To be honest, once they know that you ask them every single month, they will self-adjust one way or the other.

Are you still self managing?

Can't comment on the Houston market, but we use property managers both in NYC and Raleigh - NYC as we're not there full time and Raleigh because the demands of my full-time job are too much for me to waste time self-managing.In both areas, I've gone through a process of interviewing several property management firms which has been a combination of me getting a "gut feeling" for how they work and getting specific questions answered. 

Leo, I think most of these issues are self explanatory, replace the shower, fix the exhaust fan in the kitchen and replace vinyl, etc.

This would bring my numbers as follows:Monthly Rent - 1500Principal and interest - 693Taxes - 1850 yr (154 month) estimating conservatively Insurance - 1200 yr (100 month) also an estimateCapex - 150 month Maintenance - 150 monthVacancy - 120 month (8%)No property management due the self managingTenants are responsible for all utilities (separate meters for electricity, gas and water.  

Don't be too hard on your self as it is the same issue with a lot of us.  

Yes, the third expert is your attorney, a practicing corporate attorney, one who might actually go to court may not be a corporate attorney but a defense attorney for liability and tortuous conduct cases.

The look in it self.