If anyone is from the Houston area and would kindly share their expertise and experience it would be greatly appreciated. 

There is a wealth of information about the dos and don'ts of out-of-state investing and literally hundreds of threads on BP about it- people discussing best locations, sharing successes and horror stories, giving recommendations, etc.

If any suggestions on other great books please feel free to share your recommendations.

Care to share any of the details on the deal and your strategy?

I would be happy to share my feedback on them in private message.

Every single deal that happens goes through these people, find the ones that work with investors regularly and they have the contacts to share your deal..  

Then I will share with the rest.

@Jamane Y. and @Edgar U. would you guys be able to share the names of those sites?

Just thought I would share my before/after videos of a duplex I bought in St.

There are tons of things going on in the background though and trust me anyone who has tried to sell restricted stock will tell you its no cake walk which is why people generally pay less for restricted shares than freely tradeable shares