Has anyone flipped a bad flip?

Question

There are so many "flippers" currently in real estate that:

1. offer way too much on a deal (an therefore get the property) because they get caught up in the heat of the moment at an auction or multiple offer situation,

2. proceed to paint the entire place themselves while simultaneously learning how to paint,

3. buy the cheapest possible kitchen cabinets/bath vanity from home depot or worse dump a couple gallons of paint on the 40 year old existing cabinets and attempt to straighten out some drawers

4. rip up the carpet and sand the hardwood (or softwood!) floors,

5. sell it for a marginal profit or loss

6. are never to be seen again.

First of all, what happened to a passion for doing a quality job, a nice design, something you can be proud of and something you won't be embarrassed to sell to a home owner?

There are a lot of these bad flips on the market. Buyers are getting weary about purchasing these properties because of the low quality and tacky design ( I don't blame them). Therefore, there are more of these that have been sitting on the market for a bit in my market.

I was thinking about maybe flipping someone else's bad flip. After analyzing some of these, I can go in and actually do a quality job and renovate so an owner will actually want to buy this property and still have room to make some profit on the deal.

Has anyone ever flipped a "bad flip?"

Daria B. · Answer

@Michael S.

I've seen just what you described and didn't realize it was a flip until I did some research. A husband and wife, found their names on the house through their LLC name, bought a townhouse and from the pictures the kitchen and baths looked great. But up close and personal told another story. The bought it for $40k and tried to sell for $90k afterward and ultimately settled for $80. I'm not sure who bought it but I wondered what they actually put into it. Since closing costs and carrying costs and commission had to factor into the final sell price, just what they spent on actually doing the rehab only they know. But the quality... In doing my research I found their names associated to another property and can't say I would want to go near it.

Lundy Lundmark · Answer

that goes back to not doing it yourself because you just created a job for yourself and you may suck at it.. I constantly have to make sure my contractors are not covering shit up..it's hard to get great contractors that give a shit..on that note, has anyone ever hired a personal contractor and paid them salary? Say 40k a year. I fell like for me that would be cheaper then paying another contractor 30k per project. Especially if I'm flipping 5-10 per year..is my mentally on the right track or am I missing something?

Has anyone flipped a bad flip?

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