For the most part I like the show. They started off following several real estate flippers in different parts of the country and it was interesting to see how they all worked. The past few shows I’ve caught however have all featured the Montelongo family. I’m very unimpressed with them. Mostly because I feel they’re mis-representing some of the property. The Roach House is a perfect example. This house had a lot of rotten wood, and structural issues…but from what I could tell of the episode, they just pretty much fixed it cosmetically…without really taking a look at what other problems could have been lurking due to the neglect. They slap some paint on it, then sell it for $50K more than they have invested in it. Sure great business…but what about the single mother that bought it…I’m sure she’ll be thrilled to see how little work they actually did when her house is on TV.
I watch Flip This House and Flip That House, but not regularly. I’ve also been struck by the cosmetic work. Sometimes they’ll do it right, but it seems like that’s usually when there’s an inspection involved.
On one show, I don’t know if it was Flip This or Flip That, they bought a house at auction without going inside. I’m sorry, but no matter how cheap a house is, shouldn’t you look inside? I think that was one of the Trademark properties, where the woman runs around the work sites in stilettos and carrying a little dog.
They waste a lot of time showing the buyers yelling at their contractors. Not enough time showing the actual work.
I like both shows but I hate the arrogance of the Montelongos. Business is business, but I hate when they show them putting one over on their contractors.
The funny thing is Richard Davis and Trademark have been on Flip This House regularly and now that they’re getting a show on TLC they have promos of them being all hot-shot. I roll my eyes; c’mon, we’ve already seen you on A&E. Ginger: I can make a profit on any home. Yeah, how about that one you couldn’t even sell to your old friend. But for the most part I like that group.
I’ve watched one of the house flippy shows and I’m always amazed at the crappy houses hundreds of thousands of dollars will buy in California. Makes me even happier that I live on the Tundra.
I think these shows are kind of dangerous, though. They have the possibility of leading folks to think they can buy any old crappy house, spend a few bucks and then immediately sell it and make a profit. I think today’s housing market is a lot tougher than these shows portray. And I think the kinds of makeovers that appear on the show cost more than what we’re being told.
A good friend and her husband are flipping a house. They paid $30K for it (this is Iowa) and after putting about $40K into it, a realtor has told them to list it at $120K. They think $90K is more realistic, so that’s only a $20K profit.
They’ve done all the labor themselves, except for pouring the foundation for the garage. If they had to contract the labor, they probably wouldn’t make a profit at all.
They’ve done it on their own schedule, which helps. It’s taken them about a year. And they paid cash for the house so don’t have to worry about a deadline for mortgage payments to start. Some of these flippers give themselves an unreasonably short time, like 60 days.
They could probably have done the house cheaper, but the husband says he wouldn’t do anything in a flip that he wouldn’t do in his own house.
They aren’t doing it for the money. The husband is one of those guys who always has to be doing something, and he loves all that construction-type stuff. It’s like a hobby. An expensive hobby.
I think that this kind of property flipping was possible during the boom period where people were putting in multiple offers on any crappy property and people were waiving inspections.
At this point, we are in a buyer’s market and unless you have a construction company yourself or you can do most of the work, you can’t flip a house that easily.
My neighbors had their house on the market for a few months and they couldn’t sell it. They had overpriced it somewhat initially and their realtor didn’t really seem to do much. They only had one open house.
They had also done work but not in things that would help out in this market.
It’s definitely tough in those areas where you are competing with new construction. Some of those shows have houses built ten years ago which are considered old and hopelessly out of date. Houses I’d kill for.
I am completely addicted to these shows! Mr skittles and I just bought our house this past August. We laugh at how little money they seem to invest in their flips and the profits they make. We already dumped a ton of money, and there is no way our house has that many things done to it. I love how they can get an entire new roof for like $1,200! We couldn’t touch a new roof for less than $5,000! We live in NJ - so maybe that makes a difference. Our 10X12 shed we are having built is going to run us $1,700. And that is for a SHED!
These shows also make me very glad I do not live in CA - I could never afford to be a home-owner there.
Well, and the fact that a few thousand translates into tens of thousands on the asking price. I feel like I would be getting duped as a homebuyer. Yeah, it’s worth it for me to not have to go get the thing fixed/updated but not on an order of ten.
Fact is that several houses they updated did not sell or sold for much less than expected. House flipping is becoming very risky. A couple flippers decided to move into their flips because they did not sell.
My girlfriend likes these shows. I would love for them to feature a house on this show, and then feature the same place on Holmes on Homes. That is where a very experienced contractor comes in and spends most of the show badmouthing the idiots who did the original work that he is fixing. They really seem made for each other.
The worst was when he was hiring an intern and put the candidates through these macho mind games. What an asshole, but in the end I guess he gets the kind of jerk he wants as an assistant.
The flip thing stumps me in a couple of ways.
One is how they can get contractors to do anything on a short schedule. For most of us they won’t commit to any schedule at all.
Another is where their deadlines come from. Sometimes you see them rush into an open house with things missing, a wall or two unpainted. Why not just delay the open house until you’re really ready to show?
And they never seem to add in all the painful charges for 6% agent fees, transfer taxes, mortgage sourcing fees… So what looks like a tidy profit seems to my math to be almost a loss.
That show made me sick! OMG, the roaches in the wall. :eek: And the intern working for nothing. Then he jerked the contractor around.
It’s really not an accuracte estimate of how much it costs to flip a house. I imagine the workers who don’t seem to speak english get paid next to nothing.
I actually have this show Tivoed. Recently they have begun showing Updated versions of Flip, where they go back and report whether the flipper actually realized his “projected profit.” In all cases that I’ve seen, the actual profit was far less than projected because they didn’t consider holding/carrying fees, taxes, real estate commissions or accepting a lower offer.
I think that Montelongo did, indeed, fix the structural problems with the roach house, but still took a shortcut by using DIY roach bombs in the house vs. a professional exterminator. At the end, it looked beautiful, but I imagined the hapless homeowner sleeping one night and flipping on a light… Brrr!
One of my favorite episodes (and it may have been on a different show) centered around a young Canadian woman who was new to flipping houses. Her projected completion time was 1 month. It took her over 8 months. She projected spending something ridiculous like $25k and then proceeded to install granite countertops, travertine tile in the bathrooms, etc. By the end of the show she’d spent triple on what she projected (she wasn’t actually sure because she didn’t keep a running tally), it was snowing out, the market had turned, and they still hadn’t sold the house. Ack!
I joked to my husband that they spent so much money on their flip is because they must not have had access to poor illegal immigrant craftsmen who were willing to work for pennies on the hour.
I’m from Ohio and I’m completely shocked at what these shacks in California sell for. A 435 square foot, 0 bedroom house (former laundromat) for $250k?? Are you serious??? A house in South Central L.A. for $500k? Holy crap! How can anyone afford that, let alone a middle class family?
With the contractors, it really depends on the market and the time of year and who you know. I’ve been able to get a contractor in to do work in three days. I had a leak in my roof on Tuesday and by Saturday, it was being replaced. Other times, I’ve called someone who never showed up. If they do this on a regular basis, they will have contacts who can get the work done quickly if not efficiently.
Where I imagine they can get hung up is permitting. Around here getting the permit can be a time consuming and painful task.
Too true. Sometimes I imagine a buyer in San Antonio seeing that the house they bought from the Montelongos is going to be on Flip…and they get to see what a dressed-up piece of crap they bought! Personally, I would *never *buy a house that they had anything to do with.
I imagine the “hot shot” stuff is for the promos. Davis impresses me as a tough but very honest businessman with a strong sense of community involvement and rock-solid ethics. Someone buying a house from him may not get a bargain, but I bet they get an honest deal on a well-restored house.
The Montelongos are a bunch of douchebags. I too saw the assistant episode, and I was just sickened by how he treated them. Anyone else get the feeling that they are up to their eyeballs in debt, and when the housing market crashes they are going to lose everything?