Jobs were created, engineered arrived, the Asian population boomed, and the Irvine Unified School District became among the best public schools in southern California and homes prices moved up faster and some what became crash proof during the down turn compared to Irvine's neighboring OC cities like Mission & Aliso Viejo, Tustin, Fullerton, Anaheim etc.There are so many golden nuggets I have picked up from post Jay and I really appreciate you writing this post.

I have received a judgement for possession against a tenant at the magisterial/district level (arrears and breaches of the lease) Tenent has Indictated they will appeal the judgement.  

There's a Meetup of BP members in Bend at the Old Mill District.

Check out the school districts, too. 

Anyone familiar with the area and can provide some insight, especially the downtown historic district?

Chose one that isn't fancy (don't pay too much) and in a school district that would attract a future family.

I was more concerned with exit so I wanted better school districts than making higher cash-on-cash return.  

This will never, ever be a cash-flowing property, and you shouldn't keep it as a long-term rental.Keep in mind Richardson is very much in demand, and depending on which school district (elementary and JH) the house is in, some of those neighborhoods are still appreciating about .5-1% per month on average right now, subject to market conditions.

With these two things in mind, I'll kind of lay out the best practices for making sure you've got quality student renters in place;The first thing that runs through the minds of many investors is wild frat house parties and total property destruction - but there is a ‘beyond this’ outlook to it too, and it can actually be a decent idea in some areas.Most of the time having a buy & hold investment in a college town, you can be assured of a decent size tenant pool- for both student and faculty alike.

Because of the location, school district and the costly rehab it's not a deal for me.