my parents are at the point where they are fine with selling to get rid of the headache.

I'm fine if the wholesale deals they get in Katy are few and far between since we have several other productive marketing avenues, but I'd like to find a few reputable wholesalers to work with and get tossed on their lists for homes that meet my criteria.The whole meet and greet in person thing to explain the process annoys me because it means driving into Houston to hear something they could tell me over the phone, but if that's what I have to do, I will.

Started fine then everything dried up by 2010. 

The other two members of the LLC are fine with this arrangement if it's at all possible; the LLC receives guaranteed rent payments from the first month of ownership as well as a known, responsible party to tend to the property (this is an important consideration for my parents as they live abroad).

If you do get a residential loan it is totally fine to rent your extra rooms out as long as you live there as well.

It could be fine but just by looking around that place is not well organized and after talking around I have confirmed it.

Don't get discouraged, trust your gut and you will be fine.

If you truly "need" a larger house, then I would guess that a 200K house would do just fine. 

Biggest mistake I made initially was buying a home for 130k - it's a good home but there's only a small pool of tenants who can afford the rent I'm looking for.If you're thinking of buying a rental for cash flow purposes, please don't spend more than 80-90k on you first single family home - I promise you will cash flow much better and have a much larger group of (perfectly fine) tenants to choose from.I also don't recommend buying a home for less than 50-60k, as that will just cause too much tenant drama/repair headaches.

You need to read your local jurisdiction's regulations.If you're doing basic stuff like painting, flooring, cabinets, trim, etc. then you don't need a permit.If you get caught doing work without a permit, you can be in for a whole heck of a lot of expense in terms of fines and they can shut down the "job site".