Your Guide to Flipping Houses: Common Beginner Mistakes

Flipping houses might seem like a fun project with friends, but you’ll quickly discover how stressful the work can be (and the strain it can put on a friendship!). If you intend to flip homes with a partner, it’s so important to work with someone you know well and trust. Before starting your flip, you should both outline what you intend to put into the project, and what you both expect to get out of it. And check in regularly to ensure there’s transparency as the project moves forward.

Read more: How to Know If a House is (or isn’t) Worth Flipping

Flipping homes is like any other business and thus requires a business plan. This way, you’ll have every expense mapped out, a clear idea of the value of the home, and what it needs to sell for to earn your targeted profit. And if you’re hoping to attract an investor, they’ll almost certainly expect a business plan before considering it.

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Before you even lift a hammer, you need to know a few things: a) how much money you have for the project, b) how much you’ll need to complete the sort of flip you’re envisioning, and c) what a typical house in that neighbourhood, post-reno, sells for. Renovations have a tendency to go over budget, but if you’re running this like a business, you’ll want to make every decision with an eye on the ROI, and thus, it’s critical to know what your limit is in order to still meet the profit you’re envisioning at the end of the flip.

When it comes to staging the home to sell, remember that less is more. You want to showcase the capability of a room, but you don’t want to over personalize the room with bold colours, tons of artwork, and tchotchkes. Remember, the less you add to a room, the more spacious it’ll appear, and space is always a selling point.

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It’s become very trendy to remove bathtubs in favour of spacious, wall-to-wall showers, and that’s fine if you’re making a personal choice in your own home, but if you’re intending to flip, it’s a big mistake. Families with young children need bathtubs, and by leaving a home without one, you’re cutting out a huge pool of potential buyers.

Don’t be tempted by a cheap fixer-upper in the wrong neighbourhood. You can invest all the money in the world into making a home spectacular, but if the house is in an undesirable location, you’ll have a tough time finding a buyer. Remember, you never want to have the most expensive home on the block!

Read more: 15 Important Things to Look for When House-Hunting for Your First Property

While it may be tempting to cut down on costs by doing everything yourself, unless you’re highly experienced or professionally trained, there are some aspects to renovations (like electrical and plumbing) that are better left to the pros. No amount of YouTube videos should give you the confidence to wire up your flip!

Related: 10 Home Reno Projects You Should Always Hire a Professional For

While it’s important to hire the right people for the right jobs, there are plenty of projects during a home flip that you can do yourself, and save considerably. Demolition can typically be done yourself, along with painting and simple tiling.

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While it might be tempting to skip the often lengthy process of filing the necessary permits to rebuild, doing so could put your project at major risk of fines, or worse, having to reverse your project! Keep everything above board, and you’ll maintain your reno and your reputation as a flipper.

When flippers are too focused on flashy upgrades and buzzworthy real estate terms, they sometimes overlook the simple upgrades that make a house more functional. Additional storage is always an asset, and anything that makes a home more efficient, like better windows, is desirable. Sometimes, less really is more!

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