THOSE houses are worth a lot of elbow grease in polish and paint and curb appeal.

If you can come to the city to visit that helps but often, as a majority of properties are "curb offers only", buyers will come out for inspections after the offer is made and then go home and complete the rest of deal form there.

Research on areas, house history, curb appeal and what to look for are just a matter of doing a bit of reading or google-mapping where as before realtors were the main source of information.We an certainly do away with the current model, however I don't see it going away because its already an existing system and is too powerful as it is protected by law.I do see it changing over time though.  

I'm looking at the other homes that were sold or pending for $125K range and there were a couple that although they were single story and 300-500 sq ft smallerdid not have the same curb appeal....They WERE practically rental ready.

tastefully done"...the front yard is great curb appealit "always" smells like vanilla or something niceand the traffic has stopped coming.....what next....Help :crying:

The days are gone of grabbing furniture off the curb and tossing it in your rental.

What I did to create the cash flow was I went in and cleaned everything up and changed the curb appeal with a new door and glass front, stucco and paint.

Rents are also way up and Renters are lined up down the street and around the block to rent any place with even the slightest hint of curb appeal.

@Scott MacKick those folks to the curb...and the fastest way to do so without having to do any of the heavy lifting is to contact their caseworker at the Housing Authority and advise that eviction for lease term violations need to commence immediately. 

Sounds like a terrible agent and he should be kicked to the curb..Otherwise, I agree with your points in general about reputation.