Flip
Definition via the Oxford Dictionary
1. Turn over with a sudden, sharp movement
2. Move, push or throw (something) with a sudden, sharp movement
Sudden and sharp. Not two words people ever use with me when talking about their home. I’ve never heard anyone aspire to a sudden and sharp renovation in their home.
Yet flipping properties has become a popular business model in California and beyond at the intersection of real estate and construction. Find a house that is offered below market value, “flip it” and sell it for more to an unsuspecting buyer. A buyer that has likely identified that they want a move-in ready home.
For a number of years this model has worked. Homeowners got a white box of a house with the trendy grey accents. Flippers made money on an inexpensive renovation and all was right with the world.
But I’m happy to report folks seem to be getting wise to the flip. If only perhaps anecdotally, homeowners are realizing what this “sudden, sharp” renovation leaves behind. Some might call it lipstick on a pig.
Not all flips are created equal. That said there are a few things folks are noticing about some sharp renovations:
- Cheap materials: Flippers learned their craft and put inexpensive materials in to make things look nice and new, but with none of the care toward durability or longevity. What would give them the largest profit margin?
- Stripping of character: The success of a flip was in part due to making that building agreeable to the largest pool of potential buyers. So any character that made the building interesting got stripped.
- Codifying old problems under new materials: In many cases the sudden and purely aesthetic nature of the flip means problems with layout or awkward function doesn’t get fixed. Worse yet, it gets boxed in with new materials the new homeowner just paid a premium for. Forcing the new owner to rip out new materials to fix the albatross or live with it until such time as they don’t feel guilty about disposing of the material, likely years. This goes for lighting, countertops, flooring, etc.
- More serious issues: Oftentimes as we house shop with clients, there are clues to issues a buyer may run into. For instance, water damage and its moldy offspring can be hinted at through wavy wallpaper or circles on the ceiling. When all is freshly painted in Agreeable Grey there is little indication of a problem behind that wall until the moldy stuff grows through the paint again.
This business model still exists and I’m sure flippers are still making money on people who want a move-in ready house and wouldn’t know where to begin with a remodel or assume it’s an arduous process. And it make work out pretty well for people who only plan to stay in the home a couple of years and will put it back on the market before the cracks start to show.
Ultimately though, people are becoming wise to the flip. They are starting to question what is under that trendy white facade and yearn for warmth and character in their home and I , for one, am relieved. Of course, as a designer, I want everyone to have a home that holds them. That swirls together their needs and desires and serves up a home where they can gather and love and move about static free.
Next time, I’ll talk about buying a home that’s ripe for renovation and what to look for in knowing it can be all you hope it can be.
Photos by Nolan Issac and Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash