I've also never made a single purchase through assignment.  

I am primarily wondering how to best determine whether a particular single/multi family home would be a good candidate for being self-sufficient each month (outside of unforeseen maintenance & repairs) based on what rent is collected.

We are a single RE investor but the murder/suicide would make no difference to us. 

Whether you plan to build for your retirement through single family holds, multi family, starting a flipping business etc.

Are you looking for single family, multifamily or commercial?

Starting up my first single family home rental.

I know I can't mix the two in a single note, but can I mix IRA and non-IRA money in the same fund?

@Ethan Lieber, to expand on what @Irina Belkofer mentioned, managing a single property can be very time consuming. 

Houston Real Estate Highlights in August(* asterisk denotes that the “Harvey effect” has been removed): Single-family home sales rose 7.6 percent year-over-year, with 5,844 units sold*;Days on Market (DOM) for single-family homes declined slightly to 49 days;Total property sales jumped 36.8 percent, with 9,978 units sold;Total dollar volume increased 40.1 percent to $2.86 billion;The single-family home median price rose 3.0 percent to $236,870, reaching an August high;The single-family home average price also achieved an August record, rising 1.9 percent to $300,670;Single-family homes months of inventory was at a 4.1-months supply, down from 4.3 months last August and equal to the national level;Townhome/condominium sales rose 12.3 percent year-over-year, with 457 units sold in 2018 compared to 407 one year earlier*;Leases of single-family homes rose 7.6 percent with the average rent up 3.4 percent to $1,926*;Volume of townhome/condominium leases fell 8.6 percent with the average rent up 5.5 percent to $1,639*HAR https://www.har.com/content/newsroom?

I'm actively learning about the market in preparation to purchase some single family rentals over the coming years...if you have questions about any specific areas in Dallas-Fort Worth, I am reasonably familiar with most so let me know!