.= Allows me to store information/photos about the units and advertise them easily as vacancies occur.= Allows tenants to fill out and submit a rental application and pay the application fee= Provides credit reports and background checks= Accepts rental payments and late fees= Allows me to communicate with tenants= Keeps track of documents (leases, move-in inspections and the like)= Has a mobile appAny suggestions? 

You could very easily get something that breaks even, but has huge potential for price and rent appreciation so that in the future you'll be able to get your $150/unit (for example).  

Or we could compare it to Illinois who is easily the leading loser of population in the country. 

We want to start RE investing and we could easily qualify for $160K with our current mortgage.

On the other hand I could easily come up with $20k or so for materials.

I've read also you don't want to go too thick as they can get dented easily...

This will take a lot of work and money, but you should easily be able to sell EACH side for more than a half million, considering your old (I say old because they don't really make 1-1s in Austin anymore) house is worth a quarter million.Again, the info you gave is limited, so if any of my assumptions are off, feel free to disregard, but most likely you are in a good position to significantly increase your net worth.

I will easily get $1200 in rent per unit/month for a total of $4800 month.

They also let you easily create multiple 'businesses' which I use for different properties.

Most of the mistakes I see could be easily avoided if investors were armed with the right knowledge and solutions.