Lately everything is so grim in the mortgage & real estate news around the nation. I personally feel that the media sells fear and lots of it. And for whatever reason people seem to feed off of it. Not that I’m downplaying the seriousness of some of the situations out there, but I definitely feel very strongly that anything negative is really played up by the media.
Last night my brother called me. He is also a real estate agent, but in Arkansas. We were talking about the differences in our markets. He said that in Little Rock, Arkansas the flipping market is no longer an option, which prompted me to think about our market here in Seattle. Is the flipping market dead?
Seattle is not seeing the downturn that other markets are seeing. In fact we are still appreciating, granted not at the rate we were, but real estate is selling & appreciation is still growing. I personally know of a couple of people either currently working on a flip or looking for a house to flip. My personal opinion at the moment is if a person were able to find a great deal on a home, make the correct design choices in the flip, put it on the market at the correct time and price it right; there would still be the opportunity to flip the home & make a profit. What do you think?
3 responses so far ↓
Cecil McCann // August 7, 2007 at 8:44 pm |
I agree with you but the one thing I have learned about flipping is that it is not for the inexperienced. It takes the ability to do much of the work yourself and to have the eye for design choices that really work! It takes experience to know what improvements make the biggest difference. I recommend starting with a single family home in a great neighborhood and seeking the advice of a good realtor. I say that not just because I am a realtor but because I have seen the financial devistation caused by wrong choices.
Dakota // August 7, 2007 at 9:29 pm |
I don’t think that the flip market is dead, however I do think that the slower the market and / or value appreciation goes.. the less money a flipper can afford to sink into improvements, while still trying to realize a proffit… Great blog Jenn
Ed // August 8, 2007 at 10:35 pm |
Last month Forbes magazine ran a story about titled “Best Places To Flip a Home” statistical information from a number of sources and came to the conclusion that Seattle was currently the BEST place in america to flip a home. http://www.forbes.com/lifestyle/2007/07/26/home-seller-flip-forbeslife-cx_mw_0726realestate.html or Google “best places to flip a home”.
As Cecil said you have to know what you are doing and it can’t be done without risk. In Seattle, home owners have gotten very used to high annual appreciation which made almost any home purchased at true market value be a candidate for sale at a profit in two years or less. Now days it takes a little more effort and knowledge to make it work.