Thank you so much Patrick for the quick reply and Jon for creating a tool to save the rest of us a few days in excel!

@Holly Veal I think it is like any other REI tool.. my guess is in some markets it will work and in others it will not.

Scraping is not in my tool box of skills, but it is an interesting thought for the local piece.  

If you're using conventional financing you need to document 30% equity in your current primary that you're vacating in order to use 75% of gross rents from the tenant that will be renting your current home.You can document it by ordering an appraisal which is 450-700 dollars with rent survey attachment to the appraisal or you can sometimes do an AVM - automated valuation model which is usually free or a drive by appraisal with some banks which is usually 100-200 dollars.Some banks (portfolio non conventional) will all you to use gross rental income either discounted at 75% of face value or full 100% against your full PITIA (current residence) if you put down 20-25% on the new property.with FHA you can use gross rental income up to 85% of gross against PITIA when looknig to buy a new property assuming your current mortgage is not a FHA loan which you'd then have to adhere to 2nd primary/FHA rules/exceptions.You can see how these general questions on BP get answered so non nonchalantly however the depth of the answer really depends on your goals, your plans, and financing tools in use, and working with someone who actually understands not only the financing semantics and the investing objectives.

I think variety and individuality are also good tools.

Besides local MLS, what are the best tools to find small, multi-family properties in Texas?

(I use a ton of online tools)How can I pay them?

Do this immediately.Learn SEO and constantly work on ranking your website.While you do this, learn about DMM and PPC.This will help you drive traffic to your website (which Google will notice) and you are then focussing on making deals immediately.The goal is to have your website be your main lead generating beast as the leads it generates are1) "free"2) Super motivated to sell (compared to any other lead generating tool)The only issue with the website is that it takes time to rank.

If you want PM me the address I can run it thru the tools I have available to confirm the occupancy and ADR amounts, the rest is just math and 'trust but verify' the Op Ex numbers he has provided. 

Seal the gaps and edges, make sure floor is levelish and free of sharp objects and debris every crawl has collectedAll in for everything, grading and plastic and sealant your looking at 500 bucks or LESS if you do it yourself and have a few tools and few hours of time.