For individual units, the cap rate isn't too bad at around 2-5%, especially considering the appreciation, but I feel like I have money stuffed under the mattress with the large amounts of equity I have built up in them.My end game is to leave Beijing and move to the SW U.S. when I retire from my current career within the next 5 years. 

For example, if you buy an average priced sfr deal and sell it tomorrow for $15k, that's not bad as long as $15k is pure profit.

If you look at the transaction as a whole, you took a massive deduction one year, likely paying no tax and losing tax attributes, then in the final year, you pile all of that deduction back on top as ordinary income in a year you likely have higher income....I am not saying it is a bad idea, someone who doesn't have much income will certainly want to weigh this possibility and consider their timing. 

Unfortunately I was injured pretty badly and was medically retired from the military recently.

(bad marketing too, no doubt).

Also as the tenants pay down your mortgage you can use that equity for other real estate transactions.While hiring a PM is very daunting and we tend to get a bad reputation it is possible to have a positive experience with a PM. 

They have misrepresented this property and it's condition so badly and I'm being told there is nothing they can do about it the owner doesn't want to put any money into fixing it.

There is no tenant payback on windows unless this is a higher end rentalor you're paying for heat and the windows are in bad shape. 

Is it bad idea to invest in properties in Houston due to hurricanes and the high chance of flooding?

My strategy is I buy where people want to live, in a good or bad economy I don’t want to struggle finding tenants.Reading your post it sounds like it won’t be easy finding quality tenants..