I think every single designer I know has an itch to do this at some point: flip houses.
I know I do.
First of all, I know more about construction than most. Certainly more than a lot of those house flippers on tv! :-)
Regardless, designers have to work for clients. We can’t just go in and create something from scratch without having a boss who pays the bills, approve everything. And sometimes, they don’t approve the things we love most about a design because of budget or just plain old likes and dislikes. And sometimes, even though we give our reasons for what we select or put together, use our best sales techniques, and cross our fingers and hold our breath…... it still just won’t fly with the boss. So, we compromise or rethink or redesign.
And sometimes, even though we do our own homes (or not) where we get to do what we want (sort of), we’d still love to just come in, whip out a well-designed quick fix or a big ole fabulous remodel on a house, without having a boss. :-)
We’d all love to have free reign in the design and construction with the idea that all our money spent would come back to us tenfold.
Okay, I guess that’s the romance of flipping for anyone. Isn’t it?
So, I had a recent email from a realtor in Dallas, Chris Feltus, who is knocking his biz out of the park.
He was featured in the same article as I was, where we gave our opinions about good remodeling investments. He reached out to me, commenting about my blog and we exchanged a few emails.
I found out he has flipped around 20 houses this year alone! That’s pretty amazing to me.
So, I told him I had always been interested in flipping houses but was worried I’d overspend.
“Seriously, I'd probably want to redo too much, that's the designer in me. I'd want to go all Jeff Lewis on it and gut the thing and put in all high end finishes.”
Then I asked him my number one question that’s been burning in my mind about flipping:
“What would you say is the key to success with flipping in terms of investment in the upgrades? Keeping it as low as possible or going a little "wow" with it?”
He replied that, aside from all the extra minor details, it truly is all about getting a really good price on the property, mostly before it goes on the market. In other words, IMO, it really is a numbers game….and a realtor’s game.
I get it. I agree.
Some BTWs:
Chris sent me an interesting link to a site with all kinds of info about investing in real estate. If you’re at all thinking of flipping houses, you’d best CLICK HERE.
And if you’re buying or selling a house in the Big D... This guy’s your man:
House flipped by Chris Feltus
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