I am also planning to open a cleaning company that cleans my rentals to do some of my own cleaning and charge the company as well write off the cleaning supplies and what not.

Ali Boone, I can't for the life of me understand why you think San Diego, Orange and Riverside Counties are not good areas for generating passive income. 

All properties appear nice, clean and tidy, though I have only seen them from the outside. 

I used their deposit to replace all the carpet and have the house professionally cleaned, at first everything was fine, its been about 2 months now, and the new tenet is complaining of  a really strong cat (probably Urine) smell in the master closet, an area we had the carpet replaced. it is a slab foundation, any cheap tricks to get it fixed, I honestly don't know what to do, I would have thought to hire cleaners or replace the carpet, but both have already been done.Thanks in advance for your help,Nick

In Houston the "slums" are seeing active construction and increasing government presence (beautification agendas, active city notices to clean up, etc.) as there is a mass movement for "urban living" within these areas 15 min or less to downtown/medical center.

What really got me going about real estate was an opportunity to generate wealth beyond what is entailed by this so-called "rat race".

I would use $100k to finance short term real estate projects, such as fix/flips,  to generate significant chunks of revenue that I would then use to purchase or acquire other assets.  

Also, do you use your management company for every aspect, including booking the rentals, or are you using sites like VRBO and homeaway to book and just using the management companies for cleaning/maintenance?

The selling is going to get a check for the full amount either way (This is a clean sale not a REO or foreclosure).

I read somewhere I should only make an offer on the income it generates now.