And what about capital expenditure (cap ex), over time?

After 12 months of that I had enough capital to purchase a quad plex in my hometown in FL. 

What could someone do on forward with $5-%7K in regards of investing that amount of money? Is that a good amount for something that would get something started? Anything at all.Thank you in advance!

Yes, it does involve a national/Federal K-1, and that part is pretty easy.  

On the other hand, the total gains = income + capital appreciation, that you can potentially enjoy in Austin will far outpace most other MSAs. 

Are we able to sell this house to the 1031 exchange business at fair market value, paying any capital gains from the sale (because it was a rental first and purchased after 2009), and rent it back to ourselves from the business at market rent for about 6 months before moving into our new house?

You get to put the capital to work exclusively for the benefit of the IRA and entirely at arm's length.

There's nothing like appreciation to trash a perfectly good cash return.Might be time to consider selling into a 1031 exchange to shield the profits from capital gains taxes and avoid depreciation recapture.

Is this a national chain instead?

But for every success story of buying on credit I would wager there are ten where the buyer was under capitalized/ over leveraged and unexperienced and got left holding the bag.