Should I spend the time necessary to try to create a "brand name" for my flips?

[Robert Taylor]

I've been flipping houses full time now for about 2 years, I did it part time from around 2004 to 2007 and got back in a couple of years ago when I saw and heard that the market was good again for flipping. In my first year, I did 6 houses and now this year I've been picking up speed, I have three projects going simultaneously right now. These three will all be done within the next few weeks (hopefully!) and on the market. I'm already looking for more projects and want to find at least one soon for the "next round"! I would like to branch off into some other methods of RE investing, like holding some properties as rentals as well, but I know that I will continue flipping as long as it makes financial sense. I did get out of it around 2007 because I could see that "everyone and their brother" was getting into flipping houses and prices for project homes were getting bid up too high to make good profits. As long as the market makes sense, I'm going to continue flipping because I've learned a lot so far and I think I have a pretty good system going by now.

One thing that I've been thinking about on and off for a while is trying to create sort of a "brand name" for my flips. Just as nearly any new home builder with a halfway decent reputation uses their name to advertise their homes, I would like to have a name to advertise mine that will hopefully create some extra value for my projects and make them easier to sell.

I came to the conclusion that a brand name would be a good idea mainly from hearing of or getting hints at buyers attitudes towards flip projects, which I generally consider to be somewhat negative. One good example is from my experiences selling the houses so far. I have my RE license and I'm the broker for my flips. I take all of the calls for showings myself, I don't farm them out to a service, I think its better to have contact with the brokers showing my homes, if you rely on a showing service to take the calls and set the appointments, I think its far too easy for brokers to avoid you completely and avoid giving any feedback.

One thing that I've heard many times over is the question from the other broker, "Is this a flip?" Nearly every time, the tone of their voice strongly indicates to me that they don't necessarily think its a good thing that its a flip project and I guess I can't blame them. I know that some flippers have made things tougher for the rest of us, the guys that cut every corner they can, don't pull any permits when they should, cover up things that really should be fixed, etc. Plus, I don't think that many of the various flipping TV shows have helped, they seem to create an image of flipping as being a way for people to make outrageous profits overnight and also to cut corners.

So, I'd really like to create a brand name for my projects, something like how a new home builder uses their trade name on the houses they build and sell. I'm just looking for opinions on if its worth the time and effort needed to do that. I'm already a pretty busy guy, although I have some free time, but I don't know if the possible results are worth the effort.

I'm not looking to spend money on traditional advertising, I'd mainly look to sell my brand name through a website that I'd develop or get help developing. I'd have pages for any current homes for sale, maybe some pages with pics and info on recently sold projects and some space dedicated to ongoing or upcoming projects. I'd also devote some space to trying to push the fact that I do these projects the RIGHT way, I pull permits when needed, I don't cut corners, I don't cover things up that should be fixed. When I put out the sign for the realty company that I sell through, I produce the usual "pretty sheets" for each house, stored in one of the little plastic boxes attached to the sign for people to take one. I would put the website address on there in big letters to hopefully drive any interested buyers to my website.

So, I'm wondering if people think it would be worth the effort, do you think I could overcome certain buyers objections to buying a flip project and do you think that the results and benefits are worth the time I'd need to invest to make it go? Also happy to hear any other advice or ideas related to this as well!