If you find comparable properties with similar square footage, features, bedrooms/bathrooms that are renting for a price that you find acceptable as an investor, then the investment to improve your property might be worth it.

You can also look at the areas of Garland that feed the Richardson ISD.In general, you'll find the North & Far North Dallas areas command higher rents than other comparable looking areas of the Metroplex - ie Southwest Arlington.  

agents always send me some foreclosure properties that need some work. and then they say make a bid and see what the bank says.how come they do that compared to the foreclosure auctions where there are a bunch of investors outside the house making live bids?

One only has to look at at the dramatic turnaround of GM over the past 7 years http://www.cnbc.com/id/102116432hahaHAHAHAHAHAAH comparing us investors to Gilbert HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA you have no idea what is involved in trying to get into the down town area

And compare to this one.

Next I call "any agent" and ask if I could meet with them over lunch (my treat) and ask if they could run comps to compare my numbers. 

Maybe it's the mild winters or the lower prices compared to the West and Northeast.Of those five cities, I would investigate TN or IN with only $40K to work with. 

Mainly because I admire the warm weather and lack of "winter" compared to the midwest.  

There are 5 comparables; many of which were sold in the last 6 months As-is.

i did comparables myself with mls