Did you look at any of the newer "missing middle" projects, or is your sister dead set on a classic apartment building? I get that Austin's brutal, but sometimes the townhome or duplex options are hiding in plain sight if you're willing to take a slightly longer bus ride.

Man, same thing happened to me with a cheap ATX unit, scope showed the truth real quick.

...and honestly that's the thing nobody tells you about the "fancy" stuff, it just adds extra steps. I've got a whole drawer of washi tapes and stamp pads that looked great in the store and now just sit there judging me. The ruler and pencil thing sounds like you figured out the secret early, which is that your brain gets used to clean simple lines and doesn't need all the flash. It sucks to drop forty bucks on something that ends up being a learning experience instead of a tool, but at least you know now. I did the same with a calligraphy set back in 2021, used it for a week and my regular handwriting still looked better. Nothing wrong with going back to what actually works, that's just being smart about your time and money.