My agent has contacted the listing agent and was supplied a “Foreclosure Agreement” that need to be a separate agreement along with the Agreement of sale.

You can consolidate any category of your chart of accounts, for example, account paint and supplies is account 312, 712, 1412, total paint expenses is the total of those accounts. 

So there is high demand and low supply causing prices to go up. 

I have seen her smoking on the balcony lately and asked around the neighborhood.

This was supposed to ease prices (Supply vs Demand economics) However it looks as if prices are still increasing???

But taxes are about 10-12k per year on this property and the previous homeowner was delinquent for several years)Cash for Keys: $20,000 (The homeowner agreed to vacate by a certain date to avoid a drawn out legal process, which they threatened to do)Cleanout: $750 (The place was a complete mess)Initial Cleaning: $150 (I at least needed to get the place tidied up a bit before painters would come)Kitchen Repainting / Spraying Makeover: $11,500Fresh Paint on Most Rooms (Ceiling, Walls, Trims): $12,500Hardwood Floor (Sand, Stain, Re-finish): $4,500 New Carpets in all 4 bedrooms: $4,500Lawn Debris and Hydroseed: $6,000 (and weekly lawncare until sale but that was cheap)Electrician: $1,000 (Smokes Inspection and fixed a few recessed lights + other minor)HVAC: $1,000 (Garbage Disposal Replacement, HVAC filter replacement + othersWindow Cleaning: $500Mold Remediation: $1,000 (Bathroom Ceiling)Carpentry: $5,000 (Bunch of stuff)Miscellaneous Materials: $2,000Final Cleaning: $300Staging: $4,500New Washer and Dryer: $1,000 Total: ~$600,200 (+- 2-3k)Listed Price: 669,000Sale Price: 644,500 After broker + legal Proceeds: 606,000Profit: ~6k Time Held: Bought in April, Roughly 6 Months.I didn't make much from this deal, but the experience I got was awesome.

The other step is to talk to another mortgage broker at Wells Fargo...I found mention on this site of a possible 2% down mortgage on duplexes offered by them....might be just smoke and rumors, but I want to check it out.Any suggestions would be most welcome.

I would like to toke on whatever that guy's smoking if he thinks Houston is immune to this.

Second, the housing supply is still tight.  

Agreed on the lack of correlation between interest rates and house prices, but I do suspect rising interest rates will cause the demand curve to shift left, while the supply curve shifts right.