Buying A Home
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Would you buy a house that has been flipped?

We went to go see one tonight.  Our REA had seen it several months earlier and said the house was a disaster.  Tonight we went and everything has been redone, he said it is like night and day.  New roof, kitchen, carpet, plumbing, heating system.  And the price is very good.  It almost seems to good to be true.

Re: Would you buy a house that has been flipped?

  • Still have it inspected if you are interested. We looked at one flipped house and it was poorly done and for some reason, I want to say that FHA won't finance a flipped home if it hasn't been in the seller's possession more than 6 months but I can't promise if that is accurate. The house we bought, the previous owners lived in for 15 years before moving to retirement communities.
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  • Personally, I would not. We had a bad experience with a guy who flipped houses. He didn't very very cheap work so we ended up walking away, Which worked out because we found a house we love so much more. Our neighbor bought his house a month after we bought ours and his was flipped. He's only been there since July and he is already have roof issues and the roof was replaced right before he purchased. So I would definitely do your research and get a good inspector. And what PP said, with an FHA loan the house must owned for ninety days before it can be sold.
  • I personally wouldn't and if I were you, I would be very careful.  A flippers objective is usually make things pretty and cover up the bad.  Not all flippers are like that but that's how to do a cheap job and make the most profit.

    During our home renovations, every time we opened a wall, we've discovered something unexpected.  Since we're living here we obviously fixed it correctly but a flipper doesn't have that to worry about.   Since your realtor had been there before, maybe it will be better since he/she can remember what was wrong before (if it was just cosmetic) or more.  If this is something you decide to go through with, please research a great home inspector to look at the plumbing, hvac, roof, electrical panel, etc.  There's no way to open up the walls to see what's going on there, so you'll just have to hope for the best. 

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  • It would depend on the house, of course, but in general I don't think I would.  My friend bought a flipped house and they have already had several minor problems.  The brand new refrigerator leaked, a bathroom sink was not leveled and created drainage issues, and faulty installation of an AC unit caused water problems and ultimately mold in a closet.  In the scheme of things, nothing too big, but when you buy a house that seems brand new and move-in ready you don't expect to have these kinds of problems.  She really feels that if people had lived in the house (and not just flipped it) these kinds of problems would have been solved before she moved in.
  • I don't think I would. It may depend on the house though... I dunno.

    I've seen a few shady flippers in my area and the work is always very cheaply done. Plus, Property Ladder has me scared away from any flips. Those people are idiots.

  • We bought one and it worked out well for us. But.... the house was originally bought as a foreclosure. At that time it was only 5 years old. The investor held on to it for a year and the only work it needed was new carpets, paint etc. We also made sure to tell our home inspector that the property was owned by an investor so he went in looking for shoddy home-repairs.

     

    I'd say it definitely depends on the home. 


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  • We would not. We did go and look at one but walked in the front door and right back out...the work was shoddy enough to be seen from the doorway.

    I'm sure there are good flippers out there, but like pps have said, many of them are in it for a quick buck. They will use the cheapest paint/cheapest finishes so you'll end up doing a lot of the work you would have done in any other home at a bare minimum. At worst, you'll be investing thousands to repair things that should have been done right the first time.

  • If you decide to move forward, my advice is to contact the local building department to see if any permits were pulled and closed (to "close out" a permit, the work has to be inspected and approved). I would also ask the flipper to provide the names and contact information for the contractors they used, so you can confirm what what was actually done to the house. Specifically, you need to ask if all of the plumbing was replaced and if the roof was a complete tear off, or if they just put on another layer of shingles. Make sure the inspector knows that the house is a flip and point out the areas that have been worked on. Good flippers stand behind their work and are transparent. Shady flipppers are evasive and get testy when you try to verify their claims, which is your cue to move on.
  • The house we bought was a 'flipped' house, and I absolutely love it. However, I do think we are a rareity and got extremely lucky. The guy who flipped the house bought it a year earlier as a foreclosure. He is a reputable builder in our small town and our realtor knew him well. He absolutely saved money by buying materials and certain things from the 'bargain bin' of the local builders place (we know this because our good friend, also a builder, had seen it! Good materials, just didn't go out of his way to buy new or perfect...obvious, since he's trying to make money!), but he did a really nice job for the most part. We've been extremely happy and have had only one poor experience: Our water heater went out just a few weeks after moving in. Stuff can happen no matter what house you buy, so just be sure to keep that in mind and make sure your inspector is thorough.

  • I did.

    You need to watch out for things that have been only cosmetically fixed, but other than that it should be fine.

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  • We bought a flipped house after saying we never would, but it was well built to begin with, and it was a foreclosure that only needed cosmetic updating, for the most part.  There WAS stuff that needed to be fixed... and we got them to pay for us contracting out the fixes.  They were happy to do that, especially since we discovered they probably netted somewhere around $150k on our house!  So if you do go in, make sure you get a GOOD inspection and ask for money to fix anything wrong yourself - don't let them do it.  Ours offered to do it if we bought the materials, we said NO THANKS.  If they screwed it up the first time, they'll screw it up the second as well.
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  • Nope, probably not.  Flips are usually either

    a) shoddy work done for cheap, or
    b) way overpriced to cover the work that may or may not suit my preferences.

    I'd rather DIY than be stuck with someone's rush job.

  • I would never buy a house that had been flipped.  I wouldn't trust the work of DIYers who are only in a home trying to make a profit. 

    I have seen the flipped homes friends have bought and it is not good, imo.  But I worked for a residential contractor/remodeler so I am more picky. :)

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  • I've seen a house that was flipped before and although the end result was nice, the price was inflated some rediculous level. So, I think with the proper inspector, they will be able to make sure the job was done right and you can compare prices to similar houses in the area. So my answer to your question: If it was in my price range still and the house was flipped properly, yes.
  • I guess our house was technically a flip, but it was done by a company that has done hundreds of home. They kept their prices for renos in check by using a lot of same materials- granite, tiles, paint colors, etc. But everything was done to code by licensed contractors. We of course still had a full inspection- the only problems were the problems of it being a 100 year old house (windows are too low, things like that). However, we also had a plumbing inspector come out, because there is no way they checked that at all and the house had weathered numerous earthquakes. We did discover a crack in the main sewer line, but they repaired up up to the code of the city. building inspector. 

    Just make sure you don't get swayed by the pretty finishes.  

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  • I would, a lot of flips are not just DIY'ers but are done by professional companies that do not do shoddy work.  My DH and I prefer to buy and fix up ourselves first but I don't have anything against flipped homes.  I would have a home warranty provided by the seller and a thorough home inspection first.  
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  • I bought a house in 2010 that had been flipped in 2005. I guess it was a little different for me because if anything were to have broken or fallen apart, it would have done so by then.

    But overall, it was in great shape, and still is. The flipper even added things that were not cosmetic, like a sump pump. The new tile and cabinets have held up well.

    Take a close look at the craftsmanship... the cuts on any new trim, whether cabinets are straight, the quality of any new flooring (some of that fake hardwood stuff wears out very quickly), etc. If it's newly flipped, you can ask who did big jobs like a new roof or redone plumbing.

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