So we focused on NC & VA, as we find both much more landlord friendly, translating to lower expenses and higher profits, much less headache and still within our preferred driving range. 

While not perfect, you can paste the contents of your docs into google's translate and get pretty close.

Be sure to set up keyword alters to get notified of forum conversations with geographies and topics that interest you.  

Even accounting for substantive growth over the next 10 years it's still not going to dramatically alter the US car market, and CERTAINLY not changing the investment outlook of an area that has Oil & Gas business such as Houston.We also have to consider that this is a US-based outlook.

As far as renting out rooms, I would be sure to have a written lease agreement and have it translated before signing.

Whether that translates into a rent premium is what started this whole forum thread and still up for debate.Mathew

Translation - non-institutional. 

There's an agent here who {over} uses the phrase "awaiting your decorating touches", which translates into "the shag carpet may be gone, but the appliances are still harvest gold and nothing else has been touched since 1978".  

@Jerry W. lol @ getting mad because someone else makes a buck :) There seems to be quite a few suggestions on here that property owner try to get in on action but that business model exposes owner to a different set of risk... insurance company will also want to alter policy to reflect that... is there any market data suggesting the vacancy rates with that model is lower than say hotel vacancy rates?

Altering the grade of the land around the house can make a huge difference.