Comments on: House Flip Sob Stories

By: Remodeling Contractor

Remodeling Contractor — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 04:36:37 +0000

I’ve been hired many times to help people flip a home. I’ve even done it a few times for myself. It doesn’t always go as planned. Especially in this market, it’s easy to get into a home, and another to turn it around quickly and still make a profit. Great post!

By: Austin Property

Austin Property — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:14:01 +0000

We really need a few more house flipping shows on cable! haha

By: Mitch Argon, Reno Real Estate

Mitch Argon, Reno Real Estate — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:07:08 +0000

Good advice for flippers. In my area, there are a lot of ‘flippers’ turned ‘landlords’ while they wait for better days - you could call them ‘extended flippers’.

With the 22% reduction we’ve seen in median price, however, the pain is simply deferred.

By: Ned Carey

Ned Carey — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 02:05:48 +0000

Great post, I laugh at those shows. They talk about how much the flippers make without mentioning the costs of financing, selling or closing. Half of teh ones that said they made money probably actually came closer to breaking even.

By: ChicagoRealEstateGirl

ChicagoRealEstateGirl — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 19:08:19 +0000

My husband and I have flipped two homes at a wholesale prices as a result of a short sale. I think that investors, especially new ones, need to remember is that every time they make a mortgage payment on that property they are accruing holding costs. It’s hard to get some people to understand that when they are clinging to a “too high” asking price.

I am a real estate agent in Chicago and I get calls from “newbie” investors every month that don’t have the first clue about real estate investing. They saw a show, or attended a seminar, and now they think they know what they are doing. A lot of the foreclosure in my area are actually from investors who bit off more than they could chew.

Well said. Hopefully more people will come across this article!

By: Hunter Jackson

Hunter Jackson — Fri, 23 May 2008 00:38:13 +0000

Unfortunately, there are people who think they can flip JUST BECAUSE they saw someone doing on TV. Shows on networks like HGTV, TLC, etc show successes.

As MVaughn stated, flipping is going to die down now, due to the market. I believe it will to an extent, but I still have a great amount of investors looking to flip…and they are making it. Of course, the first time flipper I try to discourage in this market.

By: Austin Apartments

Austin Apartments — Sun, 18 May 2008 03:12:51 +0000

I agree. Nobody seems to understand that flipping houses takes a lot more effort than it looks like on TV. The preperation before a house is selected is sometimes more than half the work. It can take a long time just locating a house that is worth flipping.

By: MVaughn

MVaughn — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:54:03 +0000

There are actually a lot of flipping shows where the flippers don’t know what they’re doing, run into lots of problems, go way over budget, overprice the house, and then are stuck with it for months and not receive a single offer. Certain shows definitely romanticize the whole thing and make it seem like easy money when it really isn’t. Flipping is going to die down a lot now, though. I doubt there were will be as many first time flippers in the market who think they can just quit their day job and make tens of thousands of dollars in a couple of months.

By: philippine real estate

philippine real estate — Mon, 12 May 2008 09:34:14 +0000

I agree with this post, if you want to be successful you need to work hard for it. If you watched Pursuit of Happiness you’ll know what I’m talking about. In order to be happy, you should strive hard until you get what you want or if not, you shouldn’t easily give up.

By: Zippo Lighters

Zippo Lighters — Mon, 12 May 2008 05:00:13 +0000

House flipping has always been something that I’ve been interested in, but at this point in my life it’s too big of a risk for me to take. There is definitely some good information in your article though and there’s a bunch more articles on your blog I want to check out. Like you said about the prime time TV shows, I really wish sometimes they’d show failed flips on there too, or just an average person’s first flip. That would be much more interesting to me than just to watch an already-pro do their 1000th flip.