Virtually anything that's not carpet in the main living area (entry/living/dining/hall) will be considered an upgrade by buyers.

Ivan,You posted in another topic about an inheritance.I commend you for not going and buying a bunch of crap with it but wanting to invest it.I have seen some friends inherit large sums of money in the past that the grandparents and parents sweat blood and tears for them to have and did without to give them a chance at a better life.The friend was irresponsible and lived "high on the hog" for a few years and is now broker "working for the man".I think what you are underestimating is what it will take to do repairs correctly,the time involved,and how buying incorrectly can wipe out a large chunk of your wealth.Not knowing what kind of existing annual return you are getting on your money is a huge red flag.You have to compare the RETURN versus the RISK when moving money around or allocating a percentage of your portfolio of investments.If you don't you are "shooting in the dark" and might as well take a trip to Vegas and play the slot machines with your money.DON'T talk yourself into something and say "it's not so bad".That is what I am seeing from your posts and is the number one mistake of new investors.

Having said that if you have an agent that really will put you first and will work for you then it is only right they get the commission.When I did it the agents, especially the successful ones, would primarily show their own listings first, and sometimes exclusively if they had lots of listings as virtually all successful agents do, then their office listings next (higher agent/broker split), and would lastly show MLS listings.I wouldn't take much comfort interpreting laws that protect you when you are conducting business.

Praise the heavens and get another tenant.At the risk that my response is perceived negatively I do have to reply to you:That is quite some profiling: So from one question I am asking - where, by the way, you don't even know the real background and my intent for asking - you can tell that there is not much experience and virtually label me as some idiot novice.

But I really feel that 6+ makes for a better, more stable, more efficient rental machine, as expenses are proportionally less at that scale.On the other hand, I don't want to rush just because I have no job and need the cashflow.

I plan to expand my knowledge with the virtual mentors I hope to gain here, and share my experiences as well as meet up with local Houston RE Investors.I'll let you all know when I get my first green house on the board.

(sounds kind of like the Coca-cola guy who fills the machines).

Thanks for your replies I starting reading a book called "how to build a real estate money machine" and it talks about contracts.

Tell her you can fix her problem and you can get the units pulling in a lot more cash if she turns the management over to you.Go one by one, take care of the deferred maintenance (which I'm sure is why they have such a high vacancy rate), get the vacant ones rented at the market rate and start raising the rents on the others as the leases come due (after updates are made).You might be able to lock in a really good stream of income and then turn the well-oiled machine of managing them over to a couple of employees (that work for and are trained by you).They're going to be competition anyway.

Yes, condos are not without their challenges, but I find most of those issues vanish if you stick to higher end condos and stay away from low-income units that virtually resemble "The Projects".