Two house flipping questions?

[Patrick Philip]

For those who have rehabbed a good number of them succesfully...

1. Do you always assume that you're going to be doing a complete renovation? (aside from maybe the roof). I ask because if a house doesn't necessarily need something replaced, for example let's say the cabinets are fairly new, but not brand new. They aren't bad enough so that they absolutely must be replaced, but if you don't replace them, that means your final product won't be as good as it would have been with brand new. Do you follow what I'm saying here? Should I just always assume I'm going to need new floors throughout, new cabinets, countertops, appliances, most or all of the light fixtures replaced, new paint in and out. Why hang on to things that are 80% of the way there when you could make them brand new and they'd be 100%? The only reason would be price and it might actually make more sense to buy things that you know are junk rather than to replace things that are "decent but not perfect."

2. What are your flooring schemes? I'm the type of person who likes to standardize everything. I want to basically do the same thing every time. I have recently been suggested to do 6" x 36" porcelain or ceramic plank flooring ("wood look") throughout the entire house, including all the bathrooms and bedrooms. I'm not personally a fan of carpet anywhere, but it's not about what I like, it's about what will appeal to the most buyers and get the highest price for the house. On my first 2 houses, I bought the cheapest square ceramic tile that looked decent enough from Home Depot or Lowe's. I hired a handyman to put it in for $1/SF and the tile cost about $0.69/SF. I won't be doing that again. I went shopping for flooring companies and found one that will install the "wood look" planks for $4.69/SF including materials and labor. I'm okay with spending more on the floor installation because I know it will be done right and I won't have to babysit a handyman every day.