When you say it took you 6 months to evict that either says your property management needs a lot of work or stay away from that legal environment for which it requires you 6 months to evict a tenant. 

I prefer to use phone calls as it allows me to build a better introduction and relationship with the seller to provide a more comfortable and trustworthy environment.

Did you start with a small office and expanded out, or were you the small fish in a big pond?

Or single family into 4plex and duplex into a 4plex, this may be a more doable step in this competitive housing environment.

@Greg Scott I used to have a CPA, but I felt I had to constantly fish him for ideas.

we cant all go fish in Steve's Honey hole  :)  other wise I love those demographics were he invests.. you can be hands on and have a lot of control and better returns without fighting the inner city things we see in the rental game here on BP

So there’s no guarantee your W2 will hold up in a “crash” environment. 2.)

However, when it comes to anything that requires connections like lending, real estate, business, or VC, I am like a fish out of water, yeah.

To me anyway, but I know nothing about Houston.Maybe a good question to ask yourself is if you sold your primary residence and someone offered you: a.) something close to a fair market price, b.) wanted you to owner finance with a 4% rate, and c.) wanted you to hold the paper at 4% in a (likely) rising-rate environment...what would you say?

It is your broker that sets the environment in their office, go meet with different brokers and you can start getting a feel for their office and management style.