Have you ever been house hunting?
What do you typically look for? What are the must haves that move a showing from a maybe to a probably or definitely?
Like many, when I bought my first house, two of the most important rooms were the kitchen and the bathrooms. In the house I ultimately bought, the master bath had been updated and was gorgeous, but both the powder room and kitchen were in need of an update. But they weren’t ugly and unusable. The rooms were fine for the time being. And they had bones. Structure I could work with when it came time to reno.
But would you buy a home that had the bones and not much else? And I’m not talking of the fresh, clean bones of a partially built new home. I’m talking about the sagging, broken old bones of a wreck of a house.
That is what a couple of friends in Austin, Texas did. Not just any old friends. We’re talking about The Flipsters. Two college friends who eventually went into business together, buying and flipping houses.
The business of flipping houses has grown exponentially over the last decade. More than 6% of the homes sold in the US in 2019 were the result of a flip. But as easy as it sounds, there are risks.
According to Investopedia, there are 5 big mistakes would-be flippers make. Here are 2 of them:
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Common mistakes novice real estate investors make are underestimating the time or money the project will require.
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Another error house flippers make is overestimating their skills and knowledge.
Based on those points, it’s a good thing the Flipsters know their business.
The two have a YouTube Channel, and one of their subscribers approached them and asked them if they were interested in buying a falling down, partially demolished, mold-ridden home in Manchaca, TX.
This house takes the term “fixer-upper” into a completely different galaxy.
The house was built in 1975 and has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and is 1,500 square feet. It sits on 1.5 acres of property. They purchased it for $155,000.
And these two clearly understand the power of positive thinking. This is their first view of the interior of the house.
Admit it. You would have run screaming, right? Not these two. Their positive viewpoint?
Lincoln: “We’re buying the house this way. We haven’t touched anything yet. Normally we’ve got to do demo and rip out walls.”
Lauren: “There’s a savings already.”
That’s the living room above. Let’s take a look at a few of the other rooms—while keeping a positive attitude, mind you.
Here’s a peek at what the master bath looked like. And you probably can’t see it, but the mold was particularly bad on the walls here.
The bathroom that is shared by the second and third bedrooms isn’t much better. Not to mention the questionably placed old office chair.
And what about the kitchen? The room that realtors will tell you is one of the most important in a house. It’s the heart of the house, in fact.
There it is, with its oddly sloping ceiling with the ugly fluorescent lighting installed in it.
So what do you think? Are you completely turned off, or can you see what the Flipsters saw when they parted with $155,000 for it?
Prepare to be wowed!
Above, I shared an image of what they saw when they first entered the house. The living room with the peeling fireplace.
So bright and beautiful with the sun streaming in those new windows. And the way the fireplace pops in a contrasting color.
How about the master and shared bathrooms?
Above is a shot of the shared bath and below is the master bath. The nasty bathtubs that were in each have been replaced with large, walk-in showers.
And finally, the kitchen.
What an incredible transformation!
So what do you think? Did they make the right decision? I think so!
You can check out some of their other projects at AustinFlipsters.com.
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