You bet your keister .you can fail miserably in Austin. Just an real example, year over year increases vary by zip code tremendously. If you had just bought a rental house in 78737 in 2017 then the value of your investment decreased by 4%, on average..ouch! If you had bought a rental house in 78735 then your invesment soared by 49.2%. Its highly unlikely to cash flow in 78735 though. What about other zip codes? 78747 increased by 17.7% and its possible to cash flow there. That is one example. Its very important to have a realtor that is in tune to the market. 

Another way to fail miserably is not getting a good investment realtor that knows if rents are below market and how to raise them. There are many ways to raise the net opertating income (noi) for a property. An experienced investment realtor will know. 

Another way to fail miserably is not having the proper financing. If one uses hard money lending (hml) for example on a long term hold then that is a gamble. I will use hml but the business plan needs to be iron clad solid otherwise the hml will eat up all the profits. I have learned. 

Another way to fail miserably is bad tenant selection. Its crucial to get good long term tenants. A bad tenant sitatuon will not only cause you to lose money but could also destroy any equity that you have in the property. Surely you have seen the movie Pacific Heights...ouch.

Another way to fail miserably is buying a property with deferred maintenance and not being properly capitalized. How much is an hvac? 5-9k. If the ac goes out and you aren't capitalized then that tenant will leave soon. And that is a sad situation. How about roofs? How about foundation? The list goes on and on. Its really important to have a realtor that knows the costs and how to deal with the costs properly. 

There are so many ways to fail. Its critical to get someone that knows what they are talking about. In fact, I would suggest asking the realtor about their own portfolio. If they don't have any then more than likely they don't understand the nuances.

If you don't want to fail then call me. You will get an A+ with me and build a nice investment portfolio. 

Best,

Aaron Gordy