As the brand grows, so does the competitive advantage over other landlords that don't take as good of care in maintaining their properties.

You'll win some and you'll lose some, and you'll grow.

“Austin is growing rapidly, and as we look ahead to accommodate existing and future Austinites, there needs to be a plan in place for a more affordable and sustainable city,” said Dewitt Peart, president and CEO of the Downtown Austin Alliance.

I'm working on growing my list of possible investors while I'm getting started. 

Buy small because they grow fast and then you have to trim.  

https://www.statesman.com/news/20190418/austin-region-fastest-growing-large-metro-in-nation-8-years-running-data-shows  Its job creation that is always the driver...

We had always thought about it but we decided to get more serious now that our family is starting to grow.

They don't have the intimate knowledge of the city that comes from years of growing up/living/working there; they don't vet the neighborhood.

There are now two households hosting families and they are expecting to grow

Hi Lupe,The most popular accounting software is Quickbooks, but honestly you could probably get by with tracking expenses in your own spreadsheet.Here's some things to consider:Tracking Expenses by Vendor - You will need to know how much you paid to each Vendor so you can file Vendor 1099s with the IRSTracking Budget vs Actuals - To stay on track you will want to establish a budget upfront and then track your actual expenses to forecast budget overagesSaving Receipts - You will want to save your receipts in case of an auditOtherwise if you don't want to waste your time building spreadsheets, there are house flipping softwares & pre-built spreadsheet templates that can help you manage this process.