All Forum Posts by: Robert Steele

Ha! I use the same paint as J Scott - but I picked it independent of any recommendation.

Basically I like to go with semi-gloss white doors and trim like most people but avoid regular builder grade beige on walls like I see alot of rehabbers using around here. Another thing I have seen rehabbers doing to save a buck is painting the ceiling the same color as the walls. Blech!

I have to agree with Ann Bellamy that the warm neutrals are in vogue. Put a darker beige or taupe on the walls with white trim and the room pops!

John C. Hopefully some other Dallas area investors will chime in. My rentals are in the cities north of Dallas and it seems to me at least that the further north you go the more demand there is. I don't invest in class C. My properties get $1,400 to $1,800 rent. So far this year I have had good rental demand in Frisco and McKinney.

Andy hit the nail on the head there. In the old days if you wanted to do title searches you had to either pay a title company or go downtown to the county clerks office and search through microfilm. Now days it's all online and easily accessible.

Only a few years ago you used to have to dig through the local newspaper for Sheriffs sales. Now they are posted online.

As everything gets easier to do the barriers to entry lower and the competition increases. Thus the shrinking profit margins.

That's terrible.

But DFW is a great rental market. The population is growing because employment is good here. Rents are increasing. Houses are affordable.

I've been raising my rents $100 to $150 this year and still have tenants fighting over my rentals. In just one day we got 40 calls on one property. My vacancies have been non existent. This year I had new tenants move in on the same day the old tenants moved out. Another place was vacant only 4 days.

Maybe a little off topic but something to consider.

http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/landlordbook/sec-deposit.shtml

3. Repainting walls

One approach for determining the amount that the landlord can deduct from the tenant's security deposit for repainting, when repainting is necessary, is based on the length of the tenant's stay in the rental unit. This approach assumes that interior paint has a two-year life. (Some landlords assume that interior paint has a life of three years or more.)

Using this approach, if the tenant lived in the rental unit for two years or more, the tenant could not be charged for any repainting costs, no matter how dirty the walls were.

My employer paid the lease on their office building 10 years up front.

As much as I hate to recommend this you might want to check out Zillow's rent zestimate. I have found it to be pretty close to reality for the northern suburbs of Dallas. YMMV.

I guess the VA foreclosures are stuck in the pipeline. Since BAC stopped doing Vendee financing the number of VA foreclosures in my area has completely dried up.

Yes that is exactly what I thought. If that is not the case then I agree with you completely @Rob K :)

You had me right up until this point. Good luck getting that $400 TV back when you have to evict next month.

Just for the record I personally do 1 yr leases, sometimes 6 month, sometimes 2 year, but never month to month.