The house was built in 1945, but in solid shape.

Any other suggestions for acquiring lease option properties and/or locating solid lease option motivated sellers would also be appreciated.

Yes, more challenging to find value but the trend is still solid in TX markets.I would do the following:1) Education - read up on MF investing (books, BP podcasts focused on apts, MF forums, etc).  

It is evident that the owner may have been a "do it yourself" kind of guy, so I'm concerned it isn't permitted or zoned. 

Most people I've met on BP have been solid people and have been investing for some time.  

Low turn over, great tenant base, relatively low cost and solid rents.  

He has consistently bought one property a year.Get established with a local REIA (Real Estate Investors Association) and network for a seller finance or potential partnership where you bird dog a deal and have someone bring in capital that doesn't want to manage it (some skin in the game will always help get someone else off the sidelines and bring them to your deal.If you have solid credit call local banks/credit unions.  

We both have solid jobs working in the financial industry and view this as an opportunity to diversify our investments while learning a lot along the way.

One you find a house that works, develop a detailed scope of work and get a rock solid bid.  

I walked the outside of the outdated property and snapped some pics, rolled some numbers in my head around:Mid-range ARV around 400knew doors and windows throughout, 15k including entries for good stuff (I know that's high, better to err on the side of caution)fresh paint in/out at $5 per sf for good stuff, call it 9kflooring throughout, 6.2k at $3.50 a sf2 bathrooms, 15k kitchen 20k including appliancesso about 55-60, plus some extra for unforseen and pool, so 65-70k, leaving me an offer of 200-230ishI'm sitting in this driveway for a solid 45 minutes taking notes, running numbers, pulling title info & last sale price/date (Chicago Title mobile app), etc.