There are some really terrific values out there for people who want to "buy low and sell high". We're seeing some gutted out properties in the Bowmanville neighborhood that have been acquired by the bank and are closing out around the $15K price range. No drywall, electrical kind of missing, plumbing - who knows if it's good or not; not kitchen - appliances must have been old and missing. But the properties in this building have 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a full basement, of course it is attached. But then if you drive west just a tad and go south there are some awesome brick single family homes that are on the market for $65K to $89K price range. One only has to start doing the math and figure out how much it would cost to do a renovation and the turn around and sell it at a fair market value. Pretty easy. Pretty simple.
WRONG!! See, the homebuyer now has access to the database on what you paid for the property. Then they figure out how much you must have put into it. Now, why would a homebuyer care? Well, you see there are those who bought properties in the past (their friends) that were "flippers" with what I call "half-XXX work" and they either (a) got stuck holding the bag on doing the repairs for glitches because they didn't have the funds to go after you in court; or (b) they realized that they paid an awful lot of money for just getting some siding slapped up, the floors refinished, partcial plumbing, slap in a new furnace, put up some new kitchen cabinets and top it with a granite countertop. Oh yeh, let's talk about the front porch where only a couple of screws are put into a false front on the stairs and when, after a year, those stairs come falling down.
Oh, wait, I forgot to add that the electrical, while updated, the old cloth wiring was still in the attic under the new insulation but you were smart enough to put in new line just above all the outlets so the inspector wouldn't catch it.
If you haven't gotten the memo lately: There is no such thing as a "FAST BUCK" unless you are deer hunting.
P.S. Rehabbing homes can work but you need to be realistic about the quality of the work, giving the homebuyer all the information and include photos of before, during and after. And ... stop getting greedy. While you can make money doing flippers you also need to be realistic.
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