I made a walk through today, and everything seemed to be in good shape with the exception of some soft spots in the hallway floor.

We can add soft charges for employee time but they cannot be excessive. 

I had a hardwood flooring business and my family has done hardwood for years absolutely don't use pine in your rental it's an extremely soft wood and will not last at all.

I have sat through some extremely dry IRS video publications in my free time, and concluded for now I needed to raise some capital, make a soft entrance into the real estate investment world, and practice patience to avoid their heavy hand. 

I punched a hole in the soft drywall and found a very small amount of mold. 

However, there is a soft black material that has been glued to the cement floors and getting it up is proving to be a total nightmare.  

If you were not comfortable with the seller you could have an escrow agent hold the funds but it’s not common.The process goes like this: you make an indicative offer; if accepted the seller provided the soft collateral package and you run title report and confirm property value.

The seller's second would have to be very soft.

Most of the new homes I'm seeing are two-story, 3 and four bedroom, 2 to 3 bath with usually one half-bath on the main floor, full basements, 2 car attached garages.The market for more modest homes seems a bit slow due to the on-going employment and lending issues in the area.Rentals seem to not be empty very long at all, certainly, presumably for similar reasons: employment is soft and lending is a bit dear.Hoping you'll share your experiences.

CA is traditionally soft Oct-March anyway and the midterm election uncertainty just ads to that softness.