Audacious Flips and Renovations cont'd

[biliruben]

Bringing this back on-topic, I think we need to see the death of the flipper for the vast majority of our competition to disappear. I think we are pretty much there.

My bud next-door said he's not going to flip anymore houses. He's done for the foreseeable future. Without appreciation, I think he realizes he just can't recoup his investment, at least so far as the time he put into it.

[Cougar]

http://www.redfin.com/WA/Monroe/544-Sim ... me/2476853

Aug 01, 2007 $240,000 - Todays asking price $349,000

Does this remodel justify $109,000 gain in just 10 months? At least they could have redone the driveway! In Monroe you can buy new at this price.

[deejayoh]

This one doesn't qualify as a flip - as it's new construction. But it's infill on Capitol Hill so it's definitely an investor special. They took an L2 lot with an existing house on the back half and built this on the front.




They are asking $912k!!!!

On the corner of 12th and John, which is pretty busy. It's basically a townhouse - 1650 sqft, on a 1700 sqft lot. No views, except from the roof. I happened to be walking by yesterday and stopped into the open house. It was kind of cool, but when I saw the price my jaw just dropped.

Un-effing-believable

[Cougar]

The black siding makes it look unfinished. And the power hook up is unexceptable. Location may sell it at this price, over time.

[Markor]

Re the house at 12th & John, I think Pb Elemental's houses sell well. Some people will pay a big premium for modern design.

[deejayoh]

[Markor]

Bad deal or not, it seems to be a steal compared to , an $860K zero-lot-line 1300 sq. ft. townhouse in the same neighborhood.

[deejayoh]

[The Tim]

[biliruben]

Heh. I noticed that this morning as well.

It's kinda funny, because he gave me this long lecture about dropping aggressively before the listing gets stale.

I think his profit margin is too thin to cut significantly. He's only making 20K for his 1000 hrs at this price. $20/hr makes it worth the work. A 10K price drop, and it's $10/hr, and he should have gone back to detailing.

He's probably carrying about 3K/mo in PITI, so he's in a squeeze.

Again, I really like him and wish him well, but this kinda puts the lie to flipping profitably in a down market. At least with this house it does. I really assumed this would be a tear-down when it went up for sale last fall.

[deejayoh]

[rose-colored-coolaid]

[biliruben]

You're both probably right.

Personally, I am having my doubts it will sell in the 3s. He will end up in the red. The longer he waits to cut, the deeper, darker red it will be.

[Markor]

You might suggest to him that he put the square footage in the listing. Otherwise people may assume that the house is too small for them (so small that the seller wants to omit its square footage from the listing).

[biliruben]

Why? And remove all doubt that it's too small?

840 sq ft, BTW.

I don't live there anymore and no longer see him. He never lived there, and probably has little reason to visit. I sold my house a month ago, which had the identical layout when they were both built, in 5 days.