Flipping Houses in Todays Market

Well for today’s post we have a very special guest. My business partner Dominic has put together a great article about what it takes to flip houses in today’s buyers market.

This is Dominic’s first post on our blog so please give him a warm welcome.

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Hey everyone,

It is a very cold Sunday here in Western Mass.  I’m sitting here thinking about what would be interesting for everyone.  Of course I thought about flipping houses.  As you most of you know we own a house flipping company called Hampden Homebuyers.  We have been doing very well the last few years and a big reason why is because we have tailored what type of end product we are putting out.  5 to 7 years ago we could get away with doing laminate countertops, white paint everywhere & maybe white appliances.  Back then it didn’t matter.  Houses were selling before they hit the market.

Times have changed.  The past few years have brought a buyer’s market and with that you have to put out a better product.  The days of white everything are gone for now.  We have improved our finished product dramatically.  Now we use natural colors on walls, granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, and we really pay much more attention to finish details.  Today’s buyers have options and they are weighing all of them.

So my words of advice are…

1.  Pay attention to the finish details.  If you can see it then the potential buyer can and will see it too.

2.  Spend a little more to stand out.  The difference between new white and new stainless steel appliance is less than $1,000 and the end buyer definitely notices.

3.  Don’t be afraid to try something new.  Use different wall colors from room to room.  NOT every room but you can do one color for bedrooms and one color for the rest of the rooms.  Keep them neutral and it will work.

4.  Stage your properties.  We just started staging our finished properties and we love it.  Staging can distract the buyer’s eye from less attractive parts of the house.  We use staging as a vision of what the end buyer could have.

5.  Of course price is always important.  We have only had a few emotional purchases where price was not the deciding factor but a typical buyer will look at the surrounding properties and solds to make sure they are getting a good deal.

That’s what I have for you all.  I hope you enjoyed my info.  Please check out our other sites, www.FlippingSmart.com and www.HampdenHomebuyers.com  If you like them let us know.  If not, thank you for visiting.

Have a great Sunday and a prosperous 2012!

Dominic Kirchner II

www.FlippingSmart.com

www.HampdenHomebuyers.com

 

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Comments

  1. All five points spot on! I think you always have to keep your expenses in line with consumer demand to maintain your desired profits.

  2. How about something regarding the mindset required to push through the tough beginning to find the first deal.

  3. Dominic,

    Amen to your words of advice. These are not the things that people should note and then forget about. These are the things that create the difference of house sitting on the market a week versus sitting on the market for months.

    I relearn these lessons constantly and it’s not fun. Great advice and advice to really let sink in.

    • Dominic Kirchner II says

      Hello Danny,
      Thank you for the comment. I am really glad that you liked it. As Matt said it is the first post I have done a post for the site. What should I write about next?
      -DK-

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