March 18, 2007
A Deeper Look at Flipping Houses
Key Magazine, the quarterly real estate publication from The New York Times, features a great article on flipping houses in its Spring 2007 edition. It focuses on the intersection of the entertainment industry and the house flipping phenomenon in modern America and it does not present the typical glossy overview of the renovate-to-riches dream. I enjoyed the article a great deal because it digs below the surface of the usual story about flipping houses and is brave enough to ask questions like: Is there any hard data behind Joe Flipper’s assertion that adding a privacy fence increased the home’s value by X thousand dollars? and What does the current obsession with home improvement say about our values as a society?
The author takes a cynical look at these questions and there is a clear theme of greed, reckless consumerism and destruction of individuality that underlies the entire story. It’s not very pretty, as illustrated by the leading sentence in a section titled “How to Obliterate the Self”:
“Many citizens set out to buy a house because of an indistinct yearning, for which an actual house was never the right solution to begin with and may only be a quick (and expensive) fix that briefly anchors and stabilizes them, never touches their deeper need, but puts them in the poorhouse anyway.”
The author connects his thesis through all of the most popular real estate programs currently on TV, even including some snarky commentary on the lead personalities on some of the shows. From Kirsten Kemp on TLC’s “Property Ladder” to Richard Davis on A&E’s “Flip This House,” no one is safe from deconstruction.
It’s a great read and, although you may not learn anything about how to be a better real estate investor, you may learn something about yourself.
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[…] Recent Blog Posts ?Not So Much Surprise As It Is Fulfillment? But at least for the foreseeable future, a house may be out of the question. ?I thought for sure I could buy something,? says Miller, who says her credit rating hovers around 580. ?Everyone was getting loans. People with worse credit …THE HOUSE THAT WHISPERED “Buy me, please buy me!” the house seemed to whisper, creaking invitingly as they sat on the wide window seat in one of the upstairs bedrooms while the agent waited below. “Let’s buy it, Mike. It’s perfect.” …Are Homes Actually A Horrible Investment? Regarding buy-vs-rent, I think people should run several different possible scenarios and make a decision based on their specific geographic location and potential need to move. You may need to stay in the house for 5-10 years to making …A Deeper Look at Flipping Houses ?Many citizens set out to buy a house because of an indistinct yearning, for which an actual house was never the right solution to begin with and may only be a quick (and expensive) fix that briefly anchors and stabilizes them, …Of Martha-land and Leprechauns He asked about them for months later. The next year, despite his interest, I completely forgot to buy coins. He was not impressed. “Where’d they go? Did they leave real coins?” He scoured the house, visably disappointed. … […]
Hello my fellow investors-
I am new to this site. Nonetheless, I wanted to know if anyone saw The Suze Orman show tonight where a 24 year old real estate entrepreneur, Casey Serin, is facing foreclosure on approximately five properties from investing all over the country (including markets he is unfamiliar with)?
If you have a few moments, visit his website http://www.Iamfacingforeclosure.com . After watching the segment and visiting his blog, it reiterates the points made in the Key magazine article.
Hey did you ever flip your investment property in NJ? How are things?
Closed on the flip in early February and was very happy w/the result!
Closed on the flip in early February and was very happy w/the result!
We selected your blog as the best real estate blog in New Jersey (most recent post). We created an award ribbon if you’d like, just drop me a line.
Henry
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Long term investing strategies in the end will generally work better than Speculating on quick sales in Real Estate.
The old saying.. never sell just refinance has worked now for 4 generations in my family. Not one foreclosure in over 100 years.
A great resource to learn how to invest. A no non-sense approach:
http://www.ralestatewealthtoolkit.com
Great blog!
Thank you.
The bigest problem we are having in Florida is the amount of investors who bought property to flip at high prices and now have no buyers. They are forced to rent them out and are suffering monthly losses. When they do eventually sell them, if not as a short sale, they will lose money. This has hurt the market since the investors have disapeared.
Larry Lang
http://www.southfloridarentals-homesales.com/
Flipping is great way to make money as long as you know when to get out otherwise you fall for the domino effect
Theres a time to flip and that time is when you buy cheap. UK pubs are cheap at the moment and make ideal redevelopment projects. Its a flippers paradise.
http://uk-pubs-for-sale.blogspot.com/
In Bangkok where I live, there’s a big market for flipping new condominium developments.
I’ve seem a condominium unit flipped more than 5 times before the building has finished construction !!