Residential Real Estate Agent · Cookeville, TN · Member since 2013 · 1k+ posts · 948 votes
NOT.
Today I am closing (selling) my most recent rehab/retail flip. I bought it (with money, got the deed, etc at a price that the sellers agreed to), fixed it up a bit, and sold it on the MLS (I'm also a Realtor, and we too get judged unfairly). Buyers are a nice young couple using a rural development loan. I'm paying their closing costs and they are getting into this home with literally ZERO dollars out of pocket. Monthly payments about the same as rent. And I'm selling it to them below market, so they will have some instant equity. They will still need to repaint the interior, but I'm even giving them the paint. Yes, I'm making a little bit of money, but my buyers are thrilled to get this home.
I'm really making no more money on this than a GC would make on a spec home, but somehow we who invest in RE or flip houses get tagged as greedy capitalist pigs sometimes.
I don't see flippers that way at all. I didn't even know there was a negative perception out there. I see them as doing a great service rehabbing properties and improving the housing stock.
I'm afraid for them more often than I think poorly of them. I'm afraid they are overpaying in the first place, underestimating their repair costs and overestimating the ARV.
I'm afraid they have been sold a dream by a guru or a TV show and are not running the numbers, and not leaving contingencies in their plans.
Residential Real Estate Agent · Cookeville, TN · Member since 2013 · 1k+ posts · 948 votes
12y
@David C. - There were some illegal practices going on a few years ago (and probably still are). And the media painted us all with a broad brush. So much so that the average Joe got the idea that "flipping houses" is "illegal".
Specialist · Houston, TX · Member since 2012 · 579 posts · 301 votes
12y
Bryan,
that is a great story! Any agent who specializes in working with investors is a big plus. Too many agents see investors as their competition instead of actively finding new ways to work with them. Just had an 'interesting' conversation with a long-time Broker who can see no other way than the traditional commission-based system of making money.
There's nothing I enjoy more than seeing a new family moving into a rehabbed home.
Rental Property Investor · Douglas County, MO · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
12y
It's because of the way the "reality" shows portray flippers. They are either idiots who don't know which end of a hammer to use or jerks who only care about their budget and their schedule, or both.
Hartford, CT · Member since 2014 · 41 posts · 6 votes
12y
I wouldn't say every flipper/whole saler is greedy nor are all saints. But it sure is easy to point fingers when you don't notice that you have 3 pointing back at yourself.
Look below this Window, and you will see a list of names of people that have posted in this thread.
Click on the name of the person that you want notified via an email, that you responded to them.
If you are a Colleague with anyone that has NOT posted in the thread, and you want them to see your post, hold down the shift key, type the @ and the first 4 letters of their First or Last Name.
Then look below this Window and click on that person's name.
this could turn into a political debate quickly, but I'll try to avoid that. The benefit to a free market is that it's self-policing. If you truly are a greedy, evil, law-breaker, the market will put you out of business much faster than any government could.
If it wasn't for flippers/rehabbers, think of the enormous amount of vacant and vandalized homes every town would have. Everyone knows that vacant homes lead to squatters, drug dealing, etc. So who is really the evil person in this situation? The investor that is essentially reducing crime and being paid for their time, effort, and risk? Or the person that scolds entrepreneurs for providing a service because they feel the investor made "too much money".
As a side note, it always amuses me when I hear people talk about how their boss is making "too much money" off their labor but then demand a raise for no extra effort put in.
Lastly, congrats to you, Bryan, on a project well done, you awful capitalist.... Look at you providing a nice home at a fair price, it's disgusting... (sarcasm)