The garage apartments in the back are excellent for singles or students because they're smaller and usually a little bit less on the rent cost. if you'd like to look up some examples of those setups here in Houston and you're using the BP insights or other data tools, look up zip code 77004, 77005, and 7700 6.

Most county property appraisers have an online tool to calculate what your property taxes will be.

This essentially covers service lines that run from the house to the city hookup.

I would strongly consider self managing using the tools that Vrbo and Airbnb provide.Drop all this in a spreadsheet and see what the net profit could look like with a best and worst cast scenario.

BP has various tools available to help you analyze your deals (rental, flips, wholesale, etc), feel free to use them: https://www.biggerpockets.com/investment-calculators 7.

It seems that there is information overload often and so many people offering their own built paid software tools but it is hard to know what is right for someone who wants to learn the details and RE from the ground up. 

Will you do your own lead generation or do you want tools for leads or even a team that divvy's out leads? 

Property managers are essential for that seeing as they will (or should) tell you where they don't want to be doing business.

You essentially create the "needs"(needed for loan approval: ie- roof with 3+ years life, etc) and your "wants"(That Brand new kitchen/bath all renters want).

You essentially create the "needs"(needed for loan approval: ie- roof with 3+ years life, etc) and your "wants"(That Brand new kitchen/bath all renters want).