I probably wouldn't house hack in Oil City since you likely won't really see much appreciation or rent growth long term there being so far from the major job centers here.

I think they have a well-oiled machine, but they are dealing with alot of volume which can contribute to misses like this.

So think of it this way, it's like you bought a nice used car you really love and now since found out oil change is going to be $100 instead of $10, you want to sell the car........

There are opportunities in older neighborhoods that need rehab.Beaumont – Lower purchase prices and solid rental demand, though economic reliance on oil and gas is a factor to consider.Killeen – Driven by Fort Hood (now Fort Cavazos), military tenants provide consistent demand, and fixer-uppers are available at lower price points.Rio Grande Valley (McAllen, Edinburg, Harlingen) – Lower-cost properties, but make sure to evaluate job growth and tenant stability.San Antonio, in particular, has a good balance of affordability, rental demand, and appreciation potential.

Ink will bleed thru latex, so will need oil-based paint or Kilz. 

There are less expensive ways to change money and land properly.Now, if the land was $100,000 and had potential mineral rights (think oil, Texas tea, black gold, Beverly Hillbillies type of stuff baby) yeah, for sure, $3,500 is small potatoes.

I have invested with 8 different syndicators in about 23 deals in my life, mostly in real estate, 2 in oil and gas.   

Would you want a honda mechanic to change the oil on your Porsche?

After that, they have been patched on, painted over, glued shut, and oiled infrequently.

depends of course but I hear people looking for paper losses a lot of times invest in oil and gas - of course the investment is just as important as the paper loss as I know people who invested in MF past few years to get depreciation and losses and then they lost their entire investment and then had uncle sam banging on their door clawing back the depreciation they took as well.So whatever you do make sure you are nont solely investing because you can write it off but it still needs to be a sold investment.