As healthy as Dallas's generally very strong RE market is, what other markets in Texas do you consider to be an alternative for investors who might be hesitant to jump into Dallas or Austin at this late stage?

Michael, here is the link to Houston permit center https://www.houstonpermittingcenter.org/.

You can do a lot of damage towards your long term success in the beginning stages of a fledgling STR business in this market.

I hope that since the rest is just cosmetic it will go a bit faster  (i.e. install laminate floors, tile, painting, install new kitchen cabinets, landscaping, and staging).   

I’m still in the learning and research stage, but I’m very interested in real estate investing and I’m looking to make local connections.  

When buying, we try to pick the NPNs that are in late stage foreclosure.In a recent thread, most investors recommend staying away from NY and NJ.

Hi @Wayne Brooks I can see why it looks like that, however that’s dead center of one of the 5x2 pieces.

Great book by the way J, we feel we are ready to go and are in the final stages of locking down some private funding.

When we purchase a 120K property here, it will received full gut (studs out as you say) and when Humpy-Dumpty gets put together again, it will be with modern insulation levels, air sealing, Energy Star (tier II or III) Windows and Doors, LED lighting,    Since we are buy-n-hold types, if we sacrifice anything  due to budget constraints it will be trim level - something we can easily change later.We are at the painting stage of a full-gut, deep energy retrofit of a 1100 ft^2, 2-story attached unit {fire coded common wall} and are heating the entire unit with one 2000W electric baseboard at the moment (heat pump will not be commissioned until trim is complete).

I have been using this strategy for the last year and I'm still at the stage where I'm building up my cash value.