All Forum Posts by: Jason Kim

Thank you all for the reply,

Brian, thanks for making it clear for me and I appreciate it. When choosing the right agent to get an access to MLS and to work with, is it better to work with an agent who usually sells homes in those areas and knows that market well but have never worked with? or an agent who I can personally trust and feel comfortable to work with but have never sold and doesn't know the area well? What would be the better choice in short term and long term?

Mark, you've made a good point on using different strategies to find exits. I have read many informations about wholesaling but kinda drifted away from it since I began learning more about flipping, and thank you for reminding me that this always goes along with flipping business.

J Scott, if your set of furnitures are being used for staging to an investor how do you stage your own flipping property? and when those furnitures are not being used(maybe in the beginning time of your business) where did you or do you keep them?

J thanks for the reply,

The city where I live(suburb area with better schools are around), houses are kind of expensive to buy and sell. They retail around 200k to even 500k, and even the small REO houses are going for at least 150k. I need to buy cheaper house(30-40k) in the lower income area to fit my business budget. But the areas are so big and diverse.. like different ethnics, quality of neighbors, quality of schools and etc. all in one bracket of low income area.

The areas can maybe change at times but from your experience what kind of areas do people buy the most on these rehabbed homes?

Hello to all BP members,

I can see that flipping investors don't just flip in one area, there are several targeted areas. What should I look for and what should I consider the most when picking the areas to flip, and what do you think is the most important of all? i.e. good school, being closer to highway,quality of neighborhood or amount of sold or not sold houses in the area according to MLS? and etc..

I have two places in mind but I am not 100% sure if I'm thinking and deciding it right. One of the area is a city where house prices are cheap but not cheap enough and in Good School Distric. Another one is in the area where house prices are manageable and people have decent jobs and also the retail businesses are doing good but that area doesn't offer good schools. Schools are not terrible but not excellent comparing to the first one.But there are more houses available and cheaper to buy than the first area.

Thank you in advance

Again thank you for your responds,

@Don, I was planning on hiring people to do the job and i don't think i have the skills to to make clinets like my work. i think you've made a good point about saving time on rehab. when you replace your cabinets, do you buy them from a large stores like Home Depot? or from a local private store? or maybe from internet?

@Joel, I'd have to agree with what you've said about offering the quality of work and not giving the doubt. Also like what J Scott have said, clients do weigh more heavily on kitchen then any other room in the house. And not being cheap on it can really push the sale, and the return i can get is definitly worth the spend. I guess trying to save money on something that is one of the most important selling point can be a bad decision while i try to make my flipping business to move smoothly and consitantly. I have to keep in mind the important points.. when flipping a house... Buy it Cheap, Fix it Right, Make it Look Good, Price it Good.

Thank you all for your answers to my question.
My targeted ARV is around 90k to 120k and they are in cleaner side of low income area. I am going to fix up most of the stuffs that the buyers expect and favor like installing new floors, appliances, paint, nice bathrooms and kitchen and etc. So the house will have better overall attractions then the competitors around(hopefully) for the price. I really want the kitchen to have the updated feeling with nice granite counter tops. And these are averaging 110k houses, so ss appliance with nice granite countertop and updated cabinets would be nice a combo for that price range homes. I did some calculation of replacing with ALL BRAND NEW STUFFS, and it is kinda of a challenge. So I was thinking of keeping the cabinet boxes(unless they are really in bad shape) and replace only doors and drawers with updated designs or fix'em nicely with new hinges and nobs and paint them all with WHITE colors so they would look nicely even, and with the money that I save, I would install nice granite counter tops.

I'm just trying to find ways to save money on all the little parts of rehab.. is this too complicated to do for time and labor and would not pay off at the end for these priced homes?

Thank you in advance.

Greg thanks for the replay,

My goal is to sell the house with best condition and the price in that block. Lot of things in the house will look nice comparing to the competitors like putting new floor, paint, bathroom, appliances, new cabinets and etc.. and also i will try to reuse anything as well. Cabinets are made out of wood and i'm assuming that it can be restored with some professional work. And i would like to get an advise what conditions can be restored, or what conditions has to be demolished and buy brand new ones.

Hello all,

When rehabbing the house and sell it to retail market kitchen cabinets can cost some money, but fixing and reusing the old cabinets can save a bunch from what i read. Can alot of cabinets(not the ones that are really old and in bad shape, but in okay shape) be fixed up and reuse and still look good? and will they have decent balance along with the brand new ss appliances and all the new things around it? and when do you replace with new cabinets and when do you just reuse them?

Thank you in advance.

Andy, i do agree with you that there are lots of investors that are targeting this price range of properties and the areas that i have in mind to invest. That is the reason why i came up with this question in my topic and hoping to get a good answer to my question.
Scott just like you've said, maybe i'm skipping the process and going little too fast for my budget. Maybe this flipping business is just like any other business, which may be that "start from the bottom" could be the way to start, and sometimes it gives more solid experience and confidence in future. The target areas in that price range is usually in the south side of Chicago but not too much of warzone areas. Area that i like is around south west of Chicago where mix of different races live and consider as lower income area. Or in southeast of Chicago where University of Chicago may be near by and where house prices are cheaper than the north side of Chicago.