Flip this House

[yAyA]

Does anyone here watch and love Flip this house as much as I do?

It's a reality show that follows a company that buys rundown homes and fixes them up for a profit. It's really interesting and shows how it should be done. I'm really interested in rehabbing houses myself but I don't have the $$ at this time. So, if anyone likes the show post your thoughts

 

[Brat]

Oh boy, the rehab actions of those guys are NOT ones to emulate!  I don't know what the laws are in the state in which they do business, but they aren't getting buidling permits when necessary.  A red-tag'd house can really slow down the works, and in the jurisdictions I am familiar with inspectors are supported by the city/county.  Sheryl, do you have any comments?  In some communities code enforcement may be weak, but given the current caution by home buyers in the west home inspectors would kill the sale. 

What I notice is that organization and subs are critical, as is a line of credit to buy the house and pay for improvements. 

The improvements that won't cause problems in a house flip are the ones you see in "Sell This House".   Those homes usually need minor updates, a through cleaning, yard work and paint. 

 

[Michael]

I was curious, so I watched it today. Mold made the repair guys sick, and was estimated to cost $30,000 to get rid of it. All good fun solving these snags, if you enjoy that type of thing.

 

[Cut-Throat]

Does anyone here watch and love Flip this house as much as I do?

It's a reality show that follows a company that buys rundown homes and fixes them up for a profit. It's really interesting and shows how it should be done. I'm really interested in rehabbing houses myself but I don't have the $$ at this time. So, if anyone likes the show post your thoughts

This is what is called a Job! Nothing that you'd want to do after you have Retired!

 

[yelnad]

The mold episode was actually on "Flip THAT House" (on Discovery Home) which is a different show that "Flip THIS House" (on A&E). "Flip THAT" is actually one of the better shows where the people generally know what they're doing. They follow a different flipper each episode. "Flip THIS" follows one guy in South Carolina and his real estate "empire." He always skips the permits and is always getting caught. This show isn't too bad either. The guy (Richard) knows what he's doing but he's always taking short cuts around the law.

Most of the other flipping shows are even more unrealistic than these. DH and I do flips, and we get so mad at these shows because no one ever loses money.

 

[Michael]

Thanks for the clarification. Maybe I will try watching the A&E show some day also. My Uncle used to do the flip thing for a while, then gave it up in favor of starting his own exterminating company. Fixing up houses can be fun, if you are handy and enjoy creating a work of art out of homes.

 

[Craig]

DW and I did this to great profit around '91, and then looked for other properties to do the same. Market heated up so much that we couldn't find the "deal" that made it worth rehab, and interest / taxes / insurance during the holding period. Not saying it can't be done, but I don't think a hot real estate market is conducive to great profits here. On the other hand, just buying and flipping without rehab works if the market is hot enough ... until the music stops ...

 

[TargaDave]

The improvements that won't cause problems in a house flip are the ones you see in "Sell This House". Those homes usually need minor updates, a through cleaning, yard work and paint.

In the old days rehabber's learned just about every trade as part of the business (you can never completely depend on subs). I can remember a couple of full gut jobs including crazy things like jacking up the center of an 1800's converted barn a full 12 inches to relevel it. Today I read about rehabbers who can't handle a screw gun.

 

[riskadverse]

I watch all the "flip" shows.  I can't imagine doing a flip with the short time schedules and low rehab budgets these shows profess to use.  I do know a guy who purchases very expensive fixers and rehabs them over 2 years to get the $500K capital gain exemption (as his primary residence).  He always claims this one is the last one, and it may be this time.  He's in a 3 million dollar ocean front mansion and his capital gains are far exceeding the $500K exclusion.   

 

[brewer12345]

We sort of did this when we bought our current home. The previous owners had done a lot of fixing up, but the then proceeded to screw up their profit by decorating to their "taste". To give you an idea: The den had white walls which had then been spattered (no other word to describe it) with bright yellow paint and shiny black enamel. This was then augmented by silver and gold sparkles mixed into some kind of clear contact cement that was smeared on the walls seemingly at random. One wall had a cheesy tropical scene done on wallpaper. They did pretty much the whole first floor and the second floor bathroom in similar fashion.

Most buyers looked at it and ran the other way. We looked at it and saw a nice colonial in decent shape in exactly the neighborhood we wanted that was in need of some redecorating. I think we got it for 5 to 10% below what we otherwise would have paid and the redecorating was stuff we probably would have done on any house we bought. But boy did the wallpaper guys laugh....

 

[Nords]

We sort of did this when we bought our current home.  The previous owners had done a lot of fixing up, but the then proceeded to screw up their profit by decorating to their "taste".

I love finding those kinds of houses, although the owners can create a lot of problems.

When our offer to buy our current home was accepted, we had to beg the sellers to stop "fixing" the problems that they thought we would object to. It's hard to remove the wallpaper paste when it's been splashed painted over with oil-based glossy exterior paint...

 

[brewer12345]

I love finding those kinds of houses, although the owners can create a lot of problems. 

When our offer to buy our current home was accepted, we had to beg the sellers to stop "fixing" the problems that they thought we would object to.  It's hard to remove the wallpaper paste when it's been splashed painted over with oil-based glossy exterior paint...

Oh, there were a few other poorly done things (like the two piece shower insert that was attached with wood screws and then never properly sealed), but most of the damage was cosmetic. There were some strange choices in what had and hadn't been done. For example, they put a new deck and porch on, but never bothered to insulate or vent the atttic (was like a $1200 job, no biggie).