Rehab strategy - spit and polish or full rehab

[Jon Graham]

I'm an investor in NW Indiana. We have done a few successful flips over the last couple years. On the houses we have done, our strategy has been to do a quality rehab and try to drive up the resale value of the house. We have been pretty successful at this, but sometimes I wonder if it might be better just to do a quick simple rehab and take what we can get. We have always gotten a decent return on the extra time and money we have put into rehab so i wouldn't say we have a problem necessarily. We also enjoy the process of taking a distressed property and making it truely beautiful again. However the ultimate goal is to make money of course. 

With all the long time pros on here I'm hoping to hear what has worked for you guys and why. 

Here are a few pics of a recent house we finished and sold in 24 hours for asking price. 

[Will Barnard]

Many if not most of the Fortune 500 companies who sell to the public use branding and the quality of your rehabs is "your brand". With that in mind, I believe you are doing it right and the fact that you stated you have been successful at it tells me you should not change your strategy. I have flipped many many homes and I have always prided myself on the quality of my projects. In fact, I have had potential buyers go to my website and look at previous work, go into escrow and then tell me they did that which helped them make their decision. My branding and the quality of the design and work stands out above most other flippers. This enables me to get top dollar and sell quicker. Time is your enemy on a flip so doing the average remodel will likely get you average returns at best and increase your opportunity costs.

"If the wheel is not broken, don't fix it".

By the way, love your rehab work, very good designs!