Its fun to read all this stuff and post on line and talk about how your going to go at it but this is a very very tough industry that tends to spit out the vast majority.We have to remember the bar for entry.  

It should last in the 3-4 year mark which for the price is a good return.Avoid the metal flip down ones like the plague they dont last and tend to bend and flip over more times then not.

A quality made porcelain tile, tends to chip with the same inter material as the outer material make up.

Its a shame that we tend to play by the rules and professional tenants can take advantage.  

Minimal investment and return are really their only goals in my experience (not that these shouldn't be on their list, but they tend to be the only goals). 2) they don't live in the city so they don't know the city as well and just tend to buy where prices are low. 3) the quality of work done on their properties tends to be a little below the average investor quality, so honestly I feel as a group they pull value and rents down where they invest, rather than the opposite.There are plenty of us out there who DO care about community focus and try to affect positive change.  

These kinds of tennants tend to be higher quality and are likely to stay longer. 

I tend to be more risky but I also want to be smart about it.  

They tend to be shy. lol

It's been a (whole)sellers' market in Houston for over 2 years, so buyers tend to stretch in order to make deals happen. 

There is plenty of highly promising/almost magical real estate investing ideas out there for beginner like me, but I tend to be very weary of things that appear too good to be true (science background here, I've been trained to be skeptical).