I'm sure many of you have seen the t.v. shows about house flipping or maybe you know someone personally who has flipped a house or two. I have to admit, I am a sucker for such shows and find real estate in general so intriguing. I plan to get my real estate license as soon as my kids are all in school and I have time during the day to show houses and meet with clients... I wish I could do it sooner than that, but I know that it wouldn't be good for me to try to juggle being constantly available with the needs of three small children that need what they need when they need it. As much as I would love to drop everything sometimes and just pop over to check out a house, it wouldn't happen that easily. All that to say, I still dream about real estate and house flipping often and find myself perusing the MLS during free time in my day.
Recently, I found a property that was listed low for the area and had a lot to offer with some love-- perfect for flipping. I showed it to Mark and he agreed to drive by and check it out on the outside. Now, a little sidebar on Mark's flipping feelings (see what I did there? ha), he is also intrigued by house flipping and would love to grow his business savvy with additional properties, either in rental form or flips. However, he can be very wishy-washy when it comes down to actually taking steps forward to make a possible investment as big as a house a reality. It can become frustrating for both of us because he sends me mixed messages about whether he is really interested or not, and he probably finds my persistence in searching annoying. Communication, then, as in anything, is key. Okay, so back to the house we went to see. It needed a lot of love-- the bushes and trees were overgrown (no problem for us since that is Mark's area of expertise), the siding was dark and dreary and in need of paint, the roof was sad and the street, while in a wonderful location as far as schools and desirability, was busier than we would prefer which may have lead to longer sit time on the market. And that was just the outside. We knew from the pictures that the inside was very dated and needed a new kitchen and bathrooms (there were 3 bathrooms) and paint and flooring. Since it was so well priced though, it was worth a drive over for sure.
We emailed the listing to two people: Mark's former boss/sort of business partner for landscaping and our realtor friend. Both thought it was a great location and a good deal, depending on the amount of work needed, but they weren't sure if it would almost be a wash with all of the things needed to spruce it up and the busier street. That was enough proof for Mark to call it DOA. Sad. I will say that someone else agreed with my feelings for the place and snapped it up a week later. I'm willing to bet it was an investor too. Ah well, keep moving forward.
That leads me to yesterday's MLS find... a 3 bed, 3 bath bi-level in a very good location, though not as desirable as the last. This isn't on an overly busy street and oddly enough, it's right next door to a house owned by some of our friends. Like the other house, this one needs love. It has many of the same issues as the last, except this one is 30k cheaper... and it seems like the seller (maybe a bank?) is getting sick of holding it because the price has dropped 3 times since it was originally listed. Mark was enticed by the price, but again, when I wanted to drive by, he seemed to lose interest. We talked about it in more detail, which was good, because we were able to explain how each other was feeling, and at this point, haven't made any decisions. We did ask our realtor friend what he thought it could sell for all fixed up... depending on what is needed, we could make a nice little profit if we went ahead and made it our first official flip. Or, we could break even... but we likely wouldn't lose money. It's hard to take risks when money is involved. Still in the contemplation stage... to flip or not to flip.
What about you? Have you ever flipped a house?
**Update on the 3 bed/3bath mentioned above. We went to see it today and it was r.o.u.g.h. We would basically need to gut most of it and start over. When we added up the cost of the work needed, we decided that unless they dropped it another 20k, we probably wouldn't make enough of a profit for it to have been worth the trouble. Interestingly enough, when we got home from seeing it, it was no longer listed on the MLS... so maybe someone felt like it was a deal after all... or they lowballed. Either way, it wasn't meant to be for us. We will find something one day and get our flip on then.
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