Who Wants to Join My One Man Crusade to END Use of The F-Word???

Question

OK, first off I'm not talking about that other F-word, the one that ends with "CK" and is certainly considered a vulgar word in any company, I'm talking about the word "FLIP"-I truly believe anyone in the business of renovating homes with hopes of making a profit is cutting their own throat every single time they use THAT WORD!

Think about it, homes are the biggest purchase in the lives of the vast majority of people, unless you hang out with the private jet crowd (who buy them, not NetJets users) or if all of your friends have mega-yachts, then otherwise a home is the major purchase of their lives and we all know the extreme lengths so many big companies and makers of any product go to, spending tons of $$$ on PR, marketing, etc and it often comes down to a single word or a term related to their product.

Our products are the homes we have renovated and are now trying to sell and can anyone honestly think of any buyer who's going to have a positive opinion of the term and/or process where someone says they are "flipping" a house? I sure can't! To me, it conjures up visions of trying to do it as fast as possible, which anyone who knows how involved things can get, would mean cutting corners, taking the easy way out on issues that pop up (and they always pop up) as well as those stupid TV shows that show people doing the renovation process at light speed and making boatloads of cash on it.

Now, you will NOT find any links at the bottom here for some "go fund me" account for my "operating expenses" since I've set my budget at $0.00 nor will I be hounding anyone to hand out leaflets or "manage the North Carolina division" and thus committing lots of time, I'm not asking for any time or any money, I just am asking everyone to consider IMMEDIATELY ENDING all use of that term, I not only see absolutely zero benefit from it, I see lots of harm as I'm also the broker who sells these homes I renovate and have taken far too many calls where the buyer's agent who's looking to just set up a showing time, has one question for me "Is this a flip" and it is ALWAYS said with a sneer that says it all to me, that we're cutting our own throats with that word!

Daniel Chang · Answer

Our society does this all the time.  If a well known term gets a bad connotation, let's try and change it.  Flipping is a well known term by both real estate investors and non investors alike.  It is used for many things including as a form of communication.  In general, flippers DO try and flip a home as fast as possible.  There are costs associated with not doing so.  They DO try to minimize expenses.  You will never get around the issue that some flippers cut corners and others don't.

Let's take a few other terms.  1) a "contractor".  For some, it conjures up images of mismanagement, delay in getting things done, empty promises, etc.  2) "broker".  It conjures up images of someone wanting to do a quick sale/close to earn a commission.

Do we just recreating new terms for the same thing?  I have heard some "brokers" try to sell themselves as "consultants" or "advisors".  It's annoying and somewhat insulting to me that to try and "pull the wool over my eyes" that they are not a broker.

My personal opinion is unless you are truly redefining a new process, don't try and change the term.  Let's say you want to use the term "renovator" instead of "flipper".  If there was a noticeable and objective difference, and you can define it, then you may have a point.  No I'm not talking about subjective stuff like "renovators don't cut corners".  But let's say you are successful in changing the term, but the process and players are still the same.  Don't you think "renovator" will also develop a bad connotation?

Call an apple an apple.  You may not like apples.  The apple you just had may be rotten.  But does not make all apples bad.  Unless you create a new fruit, giving a new word for an apple doesn't change what an apple is.

Daniel Mohnkern · Answer

Hmm, So, certified pre-owned rather than used car sales men? It never fooled me but I suppose it may fool some.  You might have a point.  How about coming up with some ideas for alternatives and we'll see how good they sound?

Mary B. · Answer

A flip can be fast or slow. It may take a month or 180 days or 24 months. I do hear you so...why not 'flip' a negative into a positive picture. Make it an acronym that you will think of having good meaning and use when you hear that word.

Freedom to

Leverage

Impacting

Properties

Kudos,

Mary

Alex Applebee · Answer

With buyers I call the house "lovingly renovated" which is true. Makes buyers feel warm and fuzzy, and I DO care about my projects. But to everyone else I call it a flip and call myself a house flipper or an investor if I don't want to get hit up about their "extensive" knowledge from watching HGTV and how I should partner with them and they'll just pick out colors for half the profit (this excludes my architect buddy on here who I would partner with and let pick out colors for a share, lol!). I know the quality of the project I produce so I guess the negative press doesn't bother me because it doesn't apply to how I do things. In my past career I was a Respiratory Therapist, the most under appreciated and mischaracterized/labelled medical professional out there, so I guess I'm used to poor press? I'm a flipper and the uneducated masses can kiss my....kidding ;)

Lee S. · Answer

Never "flipped" a house but when I mention to people i'm trying to get into RE investing they immediately say "oh, so like flipping?" as if that is the only thing you do with real estate.  Makes me want to say "yeah, saw the idiots on tv doing it in 30 minutes, can't be that hard right?".  My family and I do watch an occasional show but spend most of our time making fun of the bad math, sure hope I can miss a budget by 100% and still make 90k.

Mike Hurney · Answer

@Robert Taylor I think most folks do:

Buy - Fixup - Sell/Rent which usually takes a minimum or 3 months here in Boston or New Hampshire.

A Flip to me, is like with a coin, takes less than a second to determine Heads or Tails not 3 months. So to me, a Flip occurs when I Sell a Contract to Purchase to someone else. I've SOLD it Before I BOUGHT it.

Not worth arguing over, "A Rose by any other name would smell as Sweet" Shakespeare

Ryan Dossey · Answer

I think most people have no issue buying a rehab especially if it's unique/trendy.

Robert Taylor · Answer

Thanks for the feedback guys and I agree that not only do we as a society rename or attempt to rename all sorts of things, processes, etc to achieve a better "image" for those things and also agree completely that if people see that renaming as something disingenuous or worse, dishonest that can have even worse results than the original problem you're trying to solve.  I also know well how much easier it is to say "I flip houses" as opposed to "I buy distressed property, mainly single family homes and renovate as well as modernize them as needed to produce a home which is move in ready and has the features that buyers in that price range would be looking for", that's a mouthful!

Yet, over the last couple of years after jumping into this full time after doing it on and off from 2003 to 2012, I've seen more and more evidence that just the term "FLIP" is absolutely POISONOUS to a surprisingly large number of serious buyers and what really scares and bothers me is hearing from several  local agents who do a lot of volume (I really just buy and sell my own stuff now) that they've had a fair number of buyers who may see a home online that they like or even love based on the pictures and description, but won't even bother to do a showing if it turns out to be a F@#P! Now, of course that is based on the awful reputation that F%^&NG has gotten due to some of the clowns who've produced awful homes that were sold and that made life a living hell for the buyers, than simply on the term "F#$P", but that term is so loaded now, I truly think it needs to go!

It makes me think of the incredible lengths that automakers go to when they pick a name for a new model, which is a big part of why we see more and more makers going to these letter/number "names" such as Cadillac, which recently announced they'd be using names like "CT6" instead of "Fleetwood Sixty Special" but the makers would use focus groups, research slang in every major language, etc because they know how important the right name is. I think "F&$P" just totally cheapens what should be a great product we produce down to a dollar store type image.

Cody Stone · Answer

When I first saw the heading of ending the F word, I knew exactly what word you were talking about. Retail end buyers are buying off of pure emotion most of the time and I believe the majority would have a bad association with buying a flipped house. Especially with these hideous tv shows out on cable. I'm only speaking in general terms as there are many people who renovate homes to high standards and don't cut corners.

Bill P. · Answer

@? I use the word "reposition" as flip doesn't conjur up a good image to my end buyers.

Who Wants to Join My One Man Crusade to END Use of The F-Word???

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