Using an interior designer in your flips

[Keianna Harrison]

Hey everyone: I'm Keianna Rae Harrison, an interior designer / home stager based in Indianapolis. I'm also a fix and flip investor. I have a question: Why don't more investors work with a designer/residential space planner when doing flips? I've been called in to stage a ton of flip projects that seem like they have been rehabbed without much regard for the end buyer who is 80% of the time a "HER." For example, I've seen so many flipped homes with ill-placed laundry rooms and bathrooms when there was ample space to reposition the rooms for better functionality. I've also seen many flip investors using the exact same finishes as their competition often resulting in houses with the exact same finishes for several doors around (same bath tile, kitchen tile, paint colors, etc.) I realize a lot of this answer ties back to bottom line, but if you could hire an affordable interior designer/space planner/stager who would advise/consult from the beginning to the end of the project, wouldn't it be worth it to have your property sell fast or even sell BEFORE it finished? Just looking for some insight here. My company HER Staging & Interiors provides these services to investors. My goal is to make sure our service is a good investment for our clients, and a good resource as well. Thanks for any feedback you can provide.

[Brian Pulaski]

I think an interior designer isn't a bad idea, if the house and location warrant it. I do houses between $150 and $300,000. There doesn't seem to be a need for an interior designer on a project of that size/price. Flippers are also often really keeping costs down, and although I don't know what a designer costs, it might not fit the budget. I would love to have a designer deal with those choices and decisions, however I never seem to have the budget for it so it has yet to happen.