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House Flippers are Flopping?

By
Real Estate Agent with Realtor Ryan

I have two main questions about house flipping:  Who are these people that are flipping houses on HGTV and why are they not doing it in Chattanooga?  I just like many of you out there love to sit glued to the T.V. watching those House Flipping Episodes.  They have the couple in Atlanta and another couple in Texas and different ones scattered around the country.  I find interesting that there was a time when they used to tell you what the house flipper actually got for the property and what type of profit that he/she realized from their investment.  Now, it seems like the only numbers they give you is what they pay for the property, what they spent on the remodeling and what the Realtor is listing it for.  Now you know as well as I do that they tend to not always sell for list price.  Yes, contrary to my question, I do see house flippers in and around the Chattanooga area and have worked with many of them on both sides of the deal.  It seems to me that the best return on your investment here in the Chattanooga area when flipping houses is when you do the work yourself.  Otherwise, you spend up all of your profit hiring sub-contractors to lay tile, carpet, paint, rip out sheet rock and many of the other time consuming tasks that go into rehabilitating a house.  Chattanooga is what I would call a steady appreciating market.  Within the last few years when hot markets housing prices were racing upwards, we were steadily appreciating.  Now that hot markets housing pricing is seeing a tremendous pull back, we are still steadily appreciating.  We're not setting any records, but at least we're not bottoming out.  With that being said, I don't see investors coming along scooping up the "good deals" and having a crew come in to totally renovate a house and put it back on the market for $100 grand more than they paid.  It just doesn't happen here.  If you do know of someone, then please respond because I am sure they are in need of a good Realtor.  Until then, you can find me glued to HGTV, just in case they re-air that episode about how to build a 20 foot Grecian Fountain in your backyard!

Realtor Ryan, Broker

http://www.RealtorRyan.com

Comments (4)

Christina Lane
Peoples Home Equity Chattanooga, TN - Chattanooga, TN

Hi Ryan, I have to agree with you on the shows... I love to watch them as well. My stepdad is a big investor in the Chattanooga area. He owns I Buy Houses Cash, Inc. He has seen the market fall a little this year on his end. People who go into foreclosure just owe way too much. Although, he does not rehab too many of his properties, they are usually just quick sales. Some of them that he does rehab, he ususally hires a sub contractor to do the work. The key is, pay them sub contractor pay, not contractor pay. (Many of them don't know the difference.) Anyway, I thought I would share my story with you, I bought a house last May, it was a foreclosure. I paid 120K for it, put 30 into it and could sell it for probably 250K, but I am not going to sell anytime soon, so i guess you can say mine is not a "flip"..... yet. :) There are some good deals in the Chattanooga area. But, with so many people scouting for them, they can be rare to find.

May 29, 2007 03:11 AM
Christina Lane
Peoples Home Equity Chattanooga, TN - Chattanooga, TN
By the way, who do you normally refer clients to for a mortgage? I would love to work with you sometime.
May 29, 2007 03:12 AM
Realtor Ryan
Realtor Ryan - Chattanooga, TN
Realtor Ryan

Christina,

Thanks for your post.  I am just glad to know that someone out there is reading the blog.  I usually refer the bulk of my business to Wells-Fargo.  Take care and talk to you soon.

Jun 10, 2007 03:38 AM
Christina Lane
Peoples Home Equity Chattanooga, TN - Chattanooga, TN
Well, Next time you have one, give them my number just for a comparison, I promise you won't be disapointed! Just give me one shot. Take care and hope to hear from you soon...
Jun 10, 2007 01:00 PM