I know others do it under their name initially and then quitclaim deed it but my real estate class instructor pointed out that it would be easily pierced in that scenario which then defeats the whole purpose of doing it in the first place.

Have the filter changed annually and you can probably get a bit of life out of a unit unless it is on its way out already.It looks like you have budgeted for maintenance and reserve.  

The point is, all these places are still fairly inexpensive but great rental markets due to people moving farther and farther out in the search of affordable housing, yet they're still within an hour of the heart of downtown Austin, which means an Austin-based investor can easily go visit his property once in a while if necessary.

I get quite a bit of response to my ads, and are easily rented.  

I would lean towards now IF you have a good plan for those funds or if it can support itself easily from cashflow.Dan Dietz

You can also look into Travel trailers that you could more easily sell in case of an eviction.

A mobile (easily installed and removed to another piece of land.

You can easily select the target areas you want hit.

I think you can easily beat these numbers in much safer, stable markets and not have the headaches you will with this type of property and tenant profile. 

In my former realtor life, I easily sold well over 100 nice higher end homes every year-- because I FOCUSED.I developed a very organized system ( felt like McDonalds as far as processing the client on-boarding-training then find it-buy it-close it part of transactions).I chose my top 10 favorite parts of the Greater Charlotte MSA and I think clients were drawn to my success, in depth knowledge of each area.The best part with a focused system is it permits quality time with clients.If you will focus , develop your system --and perfect your support team of professionals, nothing can stop you and money just comes!