@Eric LeBlancWe have done well investing in the Spring area - One thing that helped our bottom line was to reduce our expenses by investing in areas that have lower tax rates - we moved completely out of Harris County to Montgomery County and found further savings by buying in neighborhoods without a MUD tax - we effectively reduced our expenses by one percent or more (which is like having an extra month of rent).Good Luck and Happy Investing,

@Scott NidellHey ScottAbsolutely your words are gold.No point buying in undesirable locations and end up with trashings.When I started buying in Atlanta in 2011, (South Atlanta), believe me I had at least 4 trashings.

The problem is not your painter unless he also did the drywall mudding.

I paid $1100 to a plumber to give me new plumbing lines in the kitchen and to create an attachment for the washer and dryer in the mud room adjacent to the kitchen.  

Horror story #1: we had a tenant that converted the grass area to a mud wrestling pit for girls to wrestle in.  

My contacts range from electricians, plumbers, carpenters, HVAC, drywall, mud and painters.

Bathroom remodels take at least 3-4 days because the new mud needs time to dry and you probably have some subfloor damage.

I have done that already, and in short I came to following high level findings.Positive impact on appreciation: -area was historically undesirable due to association with “East Austin” demographic stereotype, but that his changed rapidly in last 10 years due to proximity to downtown, universities, corporations moving in, redevelopment of parks/recreations etc.

The high density polyurethane as mentioned in the other posts is much lighter than a cement/mud mixture making it less likely to cause additional settlement due to the weight, another benefit is that it expands and compresses the soil underneath it to a certain degree.

I would turn the bathroom sideways in the corner , get rid of the mud room and utilize all that space for a bigger kitchen (if those aren’t load baring walls)