By chance my neighbors also had a friends that were looking for a bigger home than they were living in and things just kind of fell into place. 

.- Look at the conditions attached to the TPM to see what the County is requiring in terms of public improvements. 

Rents have softened recently so we'd be close to break even on this but presumably this improves over time.I've been racking my brain about this lately because we are going to leave the country for 5 months starting in August.

I want to improve my cash flow, I live in a rental spending 1,500/mo on rent, I'd like to get my spend to less than 1K, I'm single, no kids so it's easy for me to move and I can get by with something small, but don't want Condos/HOA   I would also like to eventually house hack with a four plex, living in one of the units.   

Most brokers will give any licensed agent a chance.

That alone is a blessing in terms of encouragement and inspiration.I'm starting out and learning as I go by taking action every chance I have here in NE Louisiana.However, I am happy to say, I will be relocating to Waco in the next month to be closer to my family in Austin.

I just started reaching out to leads this month and other investors/real estate professionals and it's been a great experience so far.I think it's important to establish a system that you can track, budget, and improve.

My plan is to find a partner willing to take a chance on a newbie cause I am not bankable and have no working capital.

Do you mean that SFR have more of a chance to appreciate annually than MFR in general?

Scenario A (typical) - $500k duplex-$125k down-$375k mortgage at 4.6%Scenario B (modular financing) - $500k duplex-$125k down-$260k mortgage at 4.6%-$75k HELOC on primary residence-$40k loan against 401(k) (technically this would be $165k down, but you get the point)In scenario A, paying off the mortgage quickly makes zero improvement on cashflow until you pay it off completely, or refinance, and there's no point in that if your rate is locked in lower than current(or future) market rates.Scenario B could involve higher interest rates on the HELOC and the 401k loan, but you have multiple, simple, easy options for increasing your cashflow, and then you don't end up playing as much in the overpriced, volatile stock market.