Feb
1
Is “Flip” a 4 Letter Word?
February 1, 2007 |
I struggle a bit with using the word “flip”, as it’s easy and convenient, but it’s almost jumped the shark to the point that it carries negative connotations, as well.
More and more the house “flipper” is someone looking to get rich quick, prone to shady, 100% financed loans with cash back from the seller under the table, and generally long on greed but short on personal work ethic.
There are also plenty of stories abounding now of naive, inexperienced flippers who bought in at the top of the recent boom market, only to now find themselves underwater, staring at huge losses when they eventually cash out.
Like anything, it all boils down to context. Call it “flipping” or “rehabbing” or “skerdoodling”, in the end it’s pretty meaningless, as the proof is in the pudding, so to speak.
I’m sticking with “flipping” to describe what I plan on doing, as I’m looking to buy houses at a significant discount to their market value, rehab them, and sell them for a profit. You know, flip them.
The difference is that I’m hoping to be intelligent about it, being picky about the projects I take on, doing the vast majority of the work myself, tackle a relatively small number of projects the first two years, and only looking to average a net profit of $15,000/property.
I’m not looking to somehow magically get rich, without ever lifting a finger, or expecting to double my money in 12.7 seconds. So I’m getting more and more comfortable with calling myself a flipper, despite the fact that the current trend seems to be to decry and deride the real estate flippers of the world, with their foolish delusions of grandeur and unrealistic dreams.
