July 19, 2019
The Most Valuable Renovations in a House Flip
When an investor chooses to flip a home to make a profit, a great deal of thought must go into what changes to make in order to maximize the return on their investment.
Most real estate agents will tell you that the most important room in any home for sales purposes is the kitchen—and the numbers in the recent Porch report on house flipping bear this out. By far the largest number of respondents chose to renovate the kitchens in the homes they flipped, clearly considering this the most valuable space in the home to get right (this was complicated by the fact that this space was also one of the locations in the home where the most common mistakes were made—apparently contractors have a really hard time getting countertops and cabinets right—29.5 percent of flippers reported this problem—which is likely to result in delay at best and even potentially lost money on the re-do).
The next best value for renovation was considered to be—surprise, surprise—the guest bathroom, where the wrong fixtures or materials installed were the most common problem encountered. Then came the master bathroom, in which the biggest problem was in plumbing (why the difference between bathroom types? Not sure—though master baths are more likely to see installation of new showers or fancy bathtubs, which may account for it). Then comes the living room, for which the wrong type of flooring is the most common issue. Then the master bedroom—where over-budgeting is the most common problem (and not necessarily a bad one to have, unless it means you under-budgeted elsewhere as a result). The next most common space for renovation, outdoor areas, were burdened by poor design planning. The most common problem with roof renovation was in not replacing the dang thing. Guest bedrooms were beset by poor planning. The foundation (!) became a problem when the flippers failed to first have it inspected. And, lastly, the basement’s need for renovations were likely to have been under-budgeted.
Topouzis & Associates, P.C. is the house-flipper’s bulwark against problems of the past. We do title searches and ensure you are gaining clear title to your property—and we back our services with offerings of title insurance (click here), in case someone along the line of ownership did something that will weaken your title at some point in the future.
