All Forum Posts by: Marian Smith

the Benjamin Moore paint site tells you how to paint over wallpaper. So it must be acceptable.

I have found that cheap paper is murder to remove, pealing off in little pieces. Nice quality paper holds together and is easier to remove. If you pull off the drywall face paper while removing wallpaper, there is a clear impregnating sealer/hardener that will allow you to mud/ sparkle over tears and prime without bubbles at Home Depot.

plumber 75-85$ hour, drywaller and/ or painter about12-15$ hour. Electrician about$100 an hour, probably $150 the first hour and 100 thereafter. An a/c system install/replace is about 1k. Labor.

I'm working on a property that was a wrap round mortgage that went bad and ended up in foreclosure. Wrap around is similar to a lease purchase in that the original owner still has a mortgage on the property. This house was disgusting!!! After only 2-3 years. In a nice neighborhood, too. So I recommend your friend short sale if she can't afford to bring money to the table. And she may need to hurry to short sell and not be taxed on any forgiven mortgage debt because that is ending.

I just got two bids for blowing in attic insulation. I have done the job in the past , it wasn't fun.. Last time I got a quote which was basically the cost of materials at Home Depot, so obviously I hired it out. This time I will hire it out if the money I save DIY isn't worth it. So the contractors are bidding against me as well as their competition. I don't want to do it, but I will if the price is too high.

I have often wondered if you get a better caliber of potential tenant using a real estate agent so as to post on the MLS. Realtor.com has rentals and is a very nice site--as opposed to craigslist which in austin requires weeding through multiple postings of apartments and realtors trying to sell zero-down houses and just a few single family homes for rent. I also wonder if craigslist users aren't serious enough to go through a realtor or have such bad credit they are reluctant for fear a realtor won't work with them. I have rented properties using craiglist--just did as a matter of fact. I listed it as "pre-MLS" and was going to list it on the MLS if I didn't get someone pretty quick. I guess I should ask my new tenants if they were also using a realtor and if not, why not.

Tom Goans, you must be one heck of a poker player.

I was chatting with a guy at the courthouse steps auction. I said something about not buying in a cruddy neighborhood and he smiled and said that was all he and his brother ever bought. They buy and rent out. A lot of properties, over 20 if I recall. It is just a business decision. I only buy houses I would personally live in-- not want to live in, but would if need be. I want appreciation.

Hi Corey, I'm in the Austin area and recently used cabinetdoorworld.com too--at least I think it was cabinetdoorworld.com. Anyway, I was very pleased with price and quality. I also just removed all the doors from a house and took them to a cabinetmaker I have used and he bore holes for European hinges. He also made me a drawer box that I am certain was removed (stolen) from the house while it was listed on the MLS presumably by a prospective investor.
Anyhoo, who did you use to fabricate your slab and how much below $20 sq ft did it cost? And did you get under mount sinks and cooktop holes cut? Curious because I just tiled a kitchen countertop in charcoal tile with white subway tile backsplash (painted cabints white) for maybe $200 in supplies. But granite is nicer and I am interested in the ice quartz countertops they keep in stock at Floor n Decor for $500 a 10 ft slab.

Steve Crossland is an Austn PM . Check out his blogs. He blogs on his pm site and his re site. I liked one where he videoed a walk-through after a tenant had moved out and explained why he never does a walk- through with the tenant present.

I renovate to rent, not flip. I am using a skip trowel pattern on the walls in the living areas. We removed wainscoating and wallpaper and took out a half wall so there is a lot of damage. The rest of the house is a soft stomp from the late 70's. I am somewhat uncomfortable having two different textures in the house, but I like the skip trowel, which looks like a hand troweled stucco--not swirled, but popped and knocked down. It is hand applied but not difficult to do and it is a very random texture so it is easily repaired. The new homes up to 300k typically have a knockdown texture around here.