At the end of the day, it's a city that lives and dies with oil and gas. 

. #1 Market in the US for Job CreationContrary to what the majority of out of state investors believe, Houston not only have Oil & Gas (Energy), Houston has other job growth in Consulting, Information Technology, Aerospace and aviation, Medical treatment and Research, Goods Distribution, and Manufacturing.

Because I come from investment banking industry and I have done pretty well always with distressed assets (oil and gas in Texas, agribusiness in Latin America), so why not distressed Real Estate?

its oil and water .. 

House prices in WY mirror oil prices, oil goes up, jobs go up, house prices go up. 

Make sure the deals are cash flowing, a lot of syndicators are currently trying to sell you snake oil with no yield. 

But like you see all over BP right now many are leaking oil badly and small investors in funds or syndication's that are not working are literally helpless to fix their situation.

Oil Gas  and leaseholds. 4.

.- In reverse direction, American oil company invested heavily in rubber, tea plantation, oil company in such country since ... 1920s- Mainland Chinese family came to Cupertino,CA in early 2000 to purchased house there.I meant to say, the US mainstream investor is just mainly "do not know" those international activities already happening in the last 20 30 years or so.

I know certain neighborhoods these railing are all over, but I still think better renters might be interested in the place with the metal.I'd put in a hose holder--go ahead wash your car, and have the broken concrete repaired (for the same reason as the railing), even though you could probably get 25 more years of use out of it.Don't get me wrong, I think it looks like a money maker as is, but if it were in my portfolio, I would "snaz it up" a little, hoping for a better renter.And have a service get rid of those oil spots on every turn.Good Luck!