flipping houses

[tim1198]

I know, you're watching "flip that house" and seeing first time flippers make $50k in 12 weeks and thinking, Jackpot!

The truth of the matter is:

- It's extremely risky, and carrying costs is what will drain your resources

- The TV shows don't account for all the costs involved in buying and selling houses (title, mortgage fees, points, reator fees, etc...)

- When any idiot can go in and make $50k in 3 months, the hype is nearing its high and the last one holding the bag files for bankruptcy. Think back of 2001 during the internet boom.

- If it's that easy, everybody would be doing it.

I'd recommend you keep working on your house while you're living in it, and sell every few years and upgrade to a better one, and do the same thing. This lowers your risk since you need a place to live anyway, and reduce your taxes if you live in a house for 2yrs or more (it's tax free money).

good luck

mamace wrote:

[bob_villa_dh]

The part that really gets me about "flip that house" is they show what improvements they plan to make, their timeline, their projected budget and potential profit. Then, at the end of the show they do a walkthrough of the house, show what they actually spent and their potential profit, completely ignoring any realtor or other fees. Then, you NEVER see the house shown, you NEVER see the house waiting on the market, or their profits being drained by mortgage payments, or them dropping the price on the house so it will sell, then finally selling the house at a loss. They just end on this happy note: "Look, I'm going to make 50k or 100k for my 3 months of work."

It just isn't realistic. It is like "House Hunters", where the people on the show looked at the 3 houses, picked one, made an offer and it was accepted. Then they show them a few months later with what they've done to the house, completely ignoring the whole closing process and negotiations and home inspections and other important parts that buyers need to know about.

It is never like they show it > I know, you're watching "flip that house" and seeing first time

[Chris Lewis]

According to tim1198 :

"Property Ladder" (on TLC) is fairly realistic. Watch that a few times, and ask yourself: "do I _really_ want to do that?" even on the flips that make money.

[carolwilliams]

In addition to all the comments here... for a reality check on the actual profit that's probably being realized, please read my post at:

Good luck AND be careful!

[Art]

THe people making the money are the ones selling the tapes about how to do it. Real estate is risky especially when prices are going down.

[Mike Dobony]

Then last week's news was wrong? Maybe Flagstaff?

[hallerb]

THIS IS A PASTE OF A E MAIL FROM TRADEMARK PROPERTIES THE ORIGINAL FLIP THIS HOUSE CREW. FIGURE IT MAY BE OF INTEREST HERE..

Hello To All of Our Friends and Future Partners Out There! September 29, 2006 Hello Everyone!

I just wanted to thank all of you for your continued support. I cannot say much because of the lawsuit that is still pending against the network and production company, but I would like to say how much we appreciate that you are still sticking by us and not forgetting!

Many of you have shown great interest in becoming Area Partners throughout the country (and world) with Trademark Properties. I just wanted to let you know that we are working diligently on this and you will each be receiving a package from us by the end of the year with more details. The unexpected changes that we were going through when we announced the Area Partnerships have delayed things a little bit. We apologize for this delay and want you to know that we are very excited about the expansion of Trademark Properties! I would like to stress that the new crews on "Flip this House" have absolutely nothing to do with Trademark Properties. These are not our Area Partners nor will they ever be. There has been a great deal of deception with the way the show is being marketed, and I want to assure you all that they have absolutely no association with us! Trademark Properties is a full service real estate machine and flipping houses is just a portion of what we do. I am very excited to meet all of you and get the ball rolling on the most successful real estate roll out in history. Richard has worked for the past 20 years making sure he had the perfect system before he shared it with the world - we want to make sure all misconceptions are cleared up and each of you know we do not do the same type of business as these substitute crews.

We are almost finished with the new season which will air in January, so we will keep you posted on all the upcoming details, news, and events! We have the first 3 months of the year blocked off for choosing our Area Partners and plan to do Season 2 all over the country with our new partners! Again, I can't wait to meet you all and thanks for hanging tight--Trademark is definitely worth the wait! For those of you who are not familiar with the Area Partnerships, please visit

to sign up for more information - we look forward to discussing it further with you! Please continue to visit the imdb.com website ) and post your comments there - we love reading them! See you all soon and keep in touch! Corie keeps me up to date on everyone! :)

Thanks!

Ginger

[ds549]

they show guys on tv making profit doing this,, but you can lose your @ss too .

[gfretwell]

This is an example in my neighborhood

scroll down to sales

On paper it looks like they made $125k but I know the guys who flipped this and when they added up all their exoenses from a fairly involved rehabilitation and the time they spent they could have made more money contracting to fix up someone else's house.

On the other hand this was a nice "flip"

$1.7mil to $8.5 mil in 5 years. The trick? They got the property platted and zoned to develop against the wishes of the environmemtal lobby. Who knows how much that cost.

[Norminn]

One couple in our condo bought two units, did extensive work on one themselves.

First unit purchased 7/2001 for $140,000, sold sold 6/2004 for $315,000. It sold again, 9/2004, $377,000; again, 3/2005, $442,000. 2005 taxes $7301.

Their second unit, purchased 7/2003, for $180,000; they sold it for $286,000 in 6/2004. 2005 taxes $5618.

Repairs they did themselves included removing part of a wall that carried the range vent stack from the unit below, working on electric lines with power on, putting in a microwave, above the range, with screws through the sides of the cabinet (next owner found that when he replaced the microwave that didn't work).

One spouse has realtor's license. Other has several corporations registered in his name (for hiding profits, or am I paranoid?). Condo assn. cooperated completely in getting the pair on the board to vote down maintenance expenditures, not ask for building permit. There is only one owner, out of eight, who actively persists in pushing for decent maintenance. Not surprising people shoot each other at condo board meetings :o)

[Norminn]

I have a feeling that the bottom is way, way, way down.....and not just the housing market.

Small item in the paper about increase in foreclosures, Florida and all over. New notice on our condo bulletin board today .. board meeting to cry over insurance. Present premium on the condo assn. insurance $1100/month, going to $5000. Eight owners.

[gfretwell]

My homeowners went from $1200 to $3200 plus another $1200 for flood.