Other than possible missed opportunities with mortgage pay down, time to gain experience/confidence, low interest rates, etc.

It also subconsciously gives you a confidence boost when negotiating with your existing providers because you don't have the anxiety of being wholly dependent on them in the immediate term.

So if you find contractors who have these municipal license credentials, you can have a little more confidence in the competence of such a contractor.

She claims the guy I'm working with on her team has done some investing but just hasn't been giving me much confidence or seem to be helping very much. 

Time will tell, but if you make your money duriong the purchase I'm more than confident in this property.

If you don't feel 100% confident that you are in the right, you need a lawyer. 

While no one holds a crystal ball, there are literally dozens of articles citing the Austin market growth and there seems to be a fair degree of confidence among those research reports for that trend to continue.  

@Dave Foster thank you for the insight. 

I have been studying, reading and learning as much as I can over the past year and feel confident that I would be successful if I could get the ball rolling.

Originally posted by @Dave Foster:@Helen Lee, You have what is commonly called a split use property.