All Forum Posts by: Laurie Williamson

Thanks for all the feedback! It is so helpful.  Even though I do have concerns about wear and tear on the flooring, I am committed to replacing the carpeting, because I already told my tenant that I would do it. It really should have been done before she moved in… When I bought this property, it already had a tenant in it, and I did not really get a close look at the carpet. At that time, it had a property manager, and I was eight months pregnant, so I kept the same property manager to make it easy. I didn’t do anything to improve the property at first. The previous owner had put in granite counters and done some other updates, and it appeared to be in pretty good shape already. However, that tenant had financial problems and stopped paying their rent. They moved out, and a manager put this tenant in. When they did the make ready and move-in for the new tenant. it happened to be the week I was on vacation. So, I have never been in this place when it didn’t have tenants in it…Anyhow, the manager had the carpets professionally cleaned, but I guess they didn’t do a good job because this tenant has been complaining about the carpets since the day she moved in. But at that time, I was freaking out because I had lost a month and a half rent from the previous tenant, they stole the refrigerator, and I was overcharged for the make ready... I got a bill for $600 for carpet cleaning.I’m still mad about that! LOL… Anyway, I wasn’t about to replace it after paying $600 to have it cleaned. But it has been four years now, and it’s time to put something new in there. The carpet is an outdated style, and it is getting worn at the transition pieces. It looks bad. I would have done it sooner if so many things had not gone wrong with this property last year, AND if I had gotten her to sign a lease. I have not gotten this tenant to sign a lease for two years. She has been month-to-month this whole time! I started offering incentives, like a year ago I offered to replace that carpet, but I was going to raise the rent up from $1420 to $1500. She went with the lower cost option, which had a lease, but never signed   the lease. I was so burned by the last tenant, though, that I didn’t argue with month to month. I have always just been happy that she pays the rent on time. I know how expensive it can be to do a make ready between tenants. And in this case, it’s just time to replace that carpet. To answer the question about square footage, I’m not sure about the size of each of the bedrooms, but the house is about 1700 ft.² total. It is a little bit bigger than the average rental, but still probably a B or C property because of where it is. I understand the idea of waiting until the tenant moves out before making upgrades, but I don’t think she is going to move out anytime soon... Without getting too personal, there are family and financial and factors here that make me think, if I had a crystal ball, I would not be surprised if she stayed here for four or five more years. This tenant does not take the best care of the property, but it’s not bad enough that I would kick her out. I am just trying to do my job as a landlord by maintaining the property, but I do still want this to be a profitable rental. Based on what everyone has said, I am leaning toward the carpet! For $1500, I will feel like I have done my job of putting decent flooring in there… And when she moves out, I will rip it up and put in something else. My husband said that there are parquet wood floors under the carpet. He saw a corner of them in one of the closets, where the carpet had been cut to put in a scuttle hole for access under the house. I haven’t looked at it, so I have no idea what kind of shape it’s in, but we might be able to get that refinished after she moves out, for the next tenant. I don’t wanna do it while she’s in there because it will create a lot of dust and smell, and just not ideal with someone living in the property.

Thank you so much for taking time to reply! I really appreciate the advice. 

I usually make decisions quickly, but I'm stuck on this one... I need to replace the flooring for 3 bedrooms in my rental property. They currently have carpet, but it's pretty worn out. I am trying to decide whether to put in new carpet (at a cost of about $1500) or wood-look laminate (about $3500). I've heard luxury vinyl tile is great, but I already have wood-look laminate in two living areas, one of which I just installed a couple years ago, so I'm trying to match what I already have, if I do a wood look. Here are the factors I'm weighing:

• Cost is the main factor here, because I also need to replace the kitchen tile. It will cost about $1500. 
  So to replace both floors at once, I'm looking at either $5000 or $3000.

• This property cash flows about $5,000/year *before expenses* — so that's a whole year of profit, if I do the higher end option.

• Now, let's talk expenses. Last year, I spent nearly $10,000 on repairs to this property. I had to replace the garage door, get some major plumbing done, paint the exterior, replace some appliances... it got a little out of hand.

• If price wasn't an issue, I would prefer the laminate, because it looks nicer, would last longer, and my tenant would like it better. However, it's almost double the price, and I'm not sure if it will be worth it. I could replace the carpet twice and still spend less.

• My lease says no dogs, but I'm pretty sure there's a dog in there. If I get carpet, it's probably going to get peed on.

• However, I am concerned about damage to the more expensive floors, too. The new floor I had put in for her a couple of years ago already has scratches on it, and the transition piece is broken off. Other things in the house have been damaged, as well. I kind of expect the carpet to need replacement, and would actually be ok with replacing it after she leaves, since it is cheap... but I would be upset if the nice, new wood-look floors were ruined.

• Her lease is up for renewal, and I'm considering giving her two options: Keep the same rent, and get new carpet, or raise the rent, and get wood-look laminate. I'm replacing the tile either way, because it has some broken tiles and needs to be replaced. Property values are rising in this neighborhood, and I am currently charing below-market rent because I am a sucker. 

Thanks for any advice! 

Sorry for all the typos. My phone was doing predictive text and changing what I typed in!

Great question! I'm from Texarkana and have family who still lives there, but I've been in the Dallas/Fort Worth area for nearly 20 years now. I own a house in Plano, TX my own) and a rental house in Garland, TX. I have actually considered buying in Texarkana after seeing a multifamily listing on Loopnet, but I was a little scared of the market myself. I would not describe Texarkana as a growing area, although stable would probably be fair to say. It does have a lot more to offer people than it did when I was growing up, such as more stores and restaurants and a much better high school (renovations). Texarkana is family oriented and somewhat blue collar. It is surrounded by lots of farm land, and although it is a city... it's a small one. If you go to the mall or the grocery store, you are going to see people you know there. The population grows very slowly. I think this is because a lot of people leave! LOL... most of my friends from high school left and moved away afternoon graduation. A few remained and raised families, hence the small growth. There's just not much to do there professionally other than standard occupations every town needs, like doctors, lawyers, teachers, electricians, etc. If you have a profession like mine (graphic designer), there is not going to be a lot of opportunity for you there, hence, I don't live there. Another thing I did not realize until after I left is that there is a lot of poverty there. I suggest looking "Texarkana" up on Wikipedia. That's where I read that the poverty rate was somewhere around 20%. I had no idea! Houses are very inexpensive there compared to the rest of Texas even, so you can live fairly comfortably on a low salary. And salaries are also low! I don't want to be too negative because this is my hometown, but I will tell you that after moving to the D/FW area, there is just no comparison. I would not want to move back to Texarkana. OK, so regarding property values...  this is interesting because my dad is considering selling the home we grew up in, there. It is a 3/2, about 2000 square feet, on a 3/4 acre lot (all the lots are much bigger there, which is a plus.) He just put in new hardwood floors, Granite counter tops and new window treatments, and has 2 outbuildings on the property. There is a lovely garden in the backyard. A Realtor suggested he list it at $158,000! Granted, it is a modest house, but with all the updates, that is still pretty low. He was so disappointed, he did not even list it. In Plano, TX, where I live now, that house would be probably $250,000, on a zero lot. In Garland, TX, maybe $225,000. I lived in Garland for about 10 years and it's, uh, not the nicest area in D/FW, but it's population is at least 3x Texarkana's, and I'm making about $575/mo cash flow on my rental there. Texarkana may be cheap, but rents are low and there is less demand. What's the name or address of the apt complex yoi are considering? I will ask a friend who lives there for the scoop. It may be a property where the government pays the rent...

Hi Guys! I know it's been a year since this was posted, but I found the post while searching forums for "Texas Lease Agreements" earlier this week. None of the threads really answered the poster's question (which was my question as well), so I figured it out on my own, and wanted to post a follow up for anyone else who is trying to set up a new lease agreement in Texas, but is not a Realtor.  Quick background, I have a great tenant who wanted to renew her lease. I had owned the property for about a year and a half, and when I bought it, I kept the Property Manager that had been managing it for a long time. She is a broker and a Realtor, and she had drafted the original lease, which was pretty watertight. I took over management when her contract expires, and have been self-managing the property for the past 10 months or so. So now, it was time to renew the lease --- but since I'm not a Realtor, it looks like I'm not authorized to use the same lease.

OK, so first, I went to Nolo.com, and searched residential lease forms, and found a form for Texas. You sign up for an annual membership with them and then you can access their do-it-yourself legal forms. They have an OK template for Texas residential leases, but it lacked a lot of the clauses in my original lease. For example, you can say, "No pets," but there is no place to enter in pet fees. You have to do it manually. I ended up re-typing about 3 pages worth of legal language from my TAR lease, within an "Additional Provisions" section. (I couldn't copy-paste from the TAR PDF, so this took me about an hour and a half.) Once I was finished with the lease, I understood that I needed to create an account and pay a fee in order to download or print it. So, I clicked the button to do that, and -- all the fields in the lease cleared and I lost all my work!!! I was so annoyed, I went to a different website.

Next: I went to RocketLawyer.com. They have a monthly fee instead of an annual fee, but you can cancel after 5 days or something if you like, and not pay anything. I think I'll pay them for the first month, since I appreciated the service, and then cancel before it renews. Their forms were a bit easier to use, but the lease was also lacking some language that I really liked from the TAR lease, especially pet-related items and some notes about move in and move out condition. I re-typed everything again, and it worked just fine. I also like that you can have the lease e-signed with Rocket Lawyer. If anyone else is looking for good lease forms in Texas, I would recommend Rocket Lawyer, and just be sure to cancel before it auto-renews, unless you need legal forms on a monthly basis. (I was also able to download a Word version and/or a PDF of the lease for my records.) And of course you could print it and get physical signatures if you prefer. Hope this is helpful to someone out there. :)

Y'all, thanks for validating me and my whining! I guess I just really wanted to complain to a group of people who could empathize. :) @Daria B., that must have been so frustrating! My real estate agent mentioned that the listing I looked at had been a prior foreclosure and also was bank-owned. She said the listing agents probably were not getting much of a commission on it, so they did the bare minimum. Sounds like your situation might have been similar. @Don Johnston, thanks for joining the club! ;) Yes, you would think that someone on BP would know what investors are looking for — but it seems like either a case of laziness/disinterest at best, or intentional dishonesty/withholding information at worst. I feel like, as an investor, I am going to do my due diligence and any issues will be exposed in that process. Just because I discover a problem, that is not going to mean I'm not interested in a deal. I just might want to negotiate based on the situation. An investor with deeper pockets might want the complex I looked at today, and including the information that it had been in a fire might attract the right kind of investor. For me, though, I want something with minor / cosmetic repairs. So it was just a total waste of time! Appreciate you both and good luck on your next purchases!

Ugh. I just drove an hour out of town, and back, to look at a fourplex, and didn't realize until I got there that it had been in a fire. The interior of one of the units was completely covered in black soot. This was not mentioned in the listing. The other 3 units were not available for viewing — they only put a lockbox on the extra tasty crispy burned one, so I just looked in the windows. That makes it super hard to evaluate the property... but based on the fire, it's a no-go anyway. Also, it was one of ten fourplexes for sale, and all ten were completely vacant. That was also a surprise. I've been trying to evaluate multifamily properties in the Dallas area for purchase, and I've noticed that a lot of the listings are just so vague. Some properties don't have photos. Some have only one photo of the exterior, with no interior photos. Many are missing most or all of the financials. My real estate agent tried to call the listing agent for more information, but he didn't answer his phone or call back. There was another property I had found on LoopNet, but when I emailed to ask for more information, the agent wanted proof of financial performance before sharing any details. Anyone know why listing agents and/or owners hold back so much information that's crucial to making a decision on buying a property? It's so frustrating. I thought I had found a smoking hot deal, but this is not what I had in mind. Lost a day's work, with nothing to show, and it could have been avoided if they just disclosed the fire in the listing. Many investors might still be interested; I just don't have the cash for that type of rehab right now.

@ShawnDandridge, glad to hear that it is working out for you. Hope you like Fort Worth. It's a fun place; I am a fan. 

@jerrypadilla, I never considered a refinance or HELOC until I started this thread, but I am looking into it now. I need to educate myself about those products and how they work. Interesting idea.