House Flipping Tips

House flipping isn't nearly as glamorous or as easy as it looks on HGTV.  Here are some of the ways reality TV isn't very realistic when it comes to flipping homes:

1.  Budget - The renovation costs they throw around for these flips are way too low.  Especially given the time frame they expect the house to be completed in.  Which gets me to my next unreality.

2.  Schedule - Flipping a home in less than 4 weeks is near impossible.  Getting that many trades people to coordinate around each other and ensuring there is no down time is one of the biggest reasons.  

3.  Selling it - Here is where it is a little bit more realistic.  They seem to understand pricing it to the comparable sales in the neighborhood.  What always cracks me up is that they imply that they sell each house because of an open house.  Very few homes are sold at open houses.  

4.  Drama - While there is always drama in any profession, the level of drama needs to be increased to make for good TV.  There are always going to be problems and the difference between being a winner or a loser in flipping is being able to solve problems creatively.  This doesn't usually involve yelling into the phone or hitting walls with hammers out of frustration.  Who has time for all that nonsense.  

5.  Big Profits - There are opportunities to hit home runs every so often.  The reality is that as the competition to buy flip houses goes up, so do the purchase prices of the homes.  This diminishes the profit so we have had to be very selective in what we buy.  

Here is a video we shot about our most recent flip.