House Flipping, Getting a Better Name”

I used to get upset when I would hear many in the real estate community speak about house flipping with distain, not so much anymore. This is something that I know something about, as I have done over 500 homes in my house flipping business.

I wish I could say, I made money on each property. For us, losing money on a home, happens for one of two reasons.

Reason one, I paid too much for the property. One thing to remember, the profit is always in the buy. Reason number two, something unforeseen was discovered, that needed to be repaired to tool most or all of the profit and maybe you sold for less than your cost.

On a rare occasion I would buy a home in a market I wasn’t familiar with, not a good idea. When the price seems too good to be true, guess what it usually was. Bought wrong, sold wrong.

Know your market. I’ll share a couple of the surprises. Once, it wasn’t that the septic system needed to be repaired, there wasn’t one at all. There was a deep hole in the ground. There was a high water table, which meant the septic system cost a small fortune, $36,000 later, well you get the idea.

Another surprise, we wanted to put a second story on this property, it wasn’t allowed, in this section of town. We purchased a 2 bedroom and had to spend the money to renovate and had to sell as a 2 bedroom. The secret to a successful house flip, buy right, don’t shortcut the renovations and price the home correctly.

  The New Role of Flippers in the Housing Economy By: The NicheReport