Continuing the general theme of the rest of the house, I didn’t make any massive changes to the kitchen structurally, and basically worked with what was there. I wasn’t a big fan of the color of the countertop in place, but it was pretty new and in excellent shape, so I ultimately ditched any plans to replace it. The hardware on the cabinets was new and reasonably nice, so I simply re-painted the cabinets and left the hardware.As far as what I did do, here’s a quick list: installed tile backsplash and tile on one corner of the wall by the counter, re-painted the entire room, new vinyl flooring, replaced the old ceiling tiles, replaced the existing fluorescent light with a new light fixture, painted the cabinets, installed a new sink and faucet, replaced the grimy drip bowls in the stove.I wasn’t quite sure about the bright yellow color I picked at first for the top half of the walls, but it sort of grew on me, and I think it helps to brighten up (and open up) a galley style kitchen that only has one small window for natural light.

I don’t have a shot of the ceiling, but I ended up going with some 12×12 Armstrong ceiling tiles that have fancy patterns, sort of like a stamped tin ceiling look. It ended up taking me longer than I thought, as the tiles were fairly fragile and difficult to work with (they crumble and tear really easily), and I had to go back and caulk almost all of the seams. It looked good in the end, though, and saved me the hassle of hiring out the job if I’d had sheetrock put in, as you simply staple the tiles up, so while labor-intensive, the actual installation wasn’t that difficult. A bit pricy, as I ended up spending $250 on the tiles and materials, but not insanely so.

I was pretty happy with how the slate backsplash turned out, especially carrying it on down the corner wall there by the counter and pantry door. I’d originally planned to just do the backsplash area proper and paint that little piece of wall, but at my wife’s prompting I tiled the whole thing, and am glad I did, as it makes the backsplash pop a little more instead of just lurking back in the darkness beneath the cabinets.

Again, I’m a big fan of tile backsplashes, as they’re actually very easy to install (much easier than tiling floors or tub surrounds) and everyone thinks they look great. While the finished product looks as if it’d be very difficult to install, the reality is usually quite different, depending on the tile you use. The smaller pieces I use here come in 12×12 sheets, already spaced out due to the attached plastic backing, so you simply install them in 12×12 sections, and only have to worry about spacing and aligning each section. In many cases you don’t even have to trim them, as you can simply remove one row from a sheet, two rows, etc., to fit the space you have to fill in.

Pricing tile for backsplashes is kind of scary, as the 12×12 sheets I used here con the end sections and corner wall cost $10-$11 per sq. ft., so at first glance it seems prohibitively expensive. And it’s not dirt cheap, but you’re usually not talking about that much square footage when you get down to it, and kitchens are typically where you want to spend money on a rehab, so you get a lot of bang for your buck. You can also often use less expensive tile for certain areas, with some planning. In this one I used much cheaper 6×6 slate tiles for the back wall of the backsplash, and only used the more expensive smaller slate tile mosiac sheets (1×1 and 1/2×1/2) for the end sections.

As far as regrets, not a huge fan of the vinyl flooring I used. It looks decent enough but it’s way too fragile for my liking. The furnace installers were careful and put down protective material on the floor but the vinyl was still dented and dinged from where they set the new furnace on the floor, in the process of bringing it in. I also cheaped out on the new light fixture I put in, going with a lower-end halogen light. It doesn’t look terrible and it’s low-profile (the ceiling is fairly short as is so I didn’t want to use anything that protruded down too far), but it’s kind of cheap looking. I’d originally planned to put in some recessed lights and I bailed out at the last minute, as I’m still not really comfortable working with electrical stuff and the halogen light was simple and easy and I could be done with it in 15 minutes. The real regret there, though, is that I had the entire ceiling exposed to replace the tiles, so there really was no reason not to go ahead and installed recessed lighting as I’d planned, as it would have looked much nicer, provided more light, and wouldn’t have cost all that much extra.

Total renovation costs for kitchen:

Flooring: (will be included in total flooring costs listed later)

Tile backsplash (includes tile, mortar, grout, etc.): $250

New sink and faucet: $210

New ceiling (ceiling tiles and caulk): $250

Paint: $40

New light fixture: $20

Miscellaneous (wallplates and switchplates, screws, drip bowls, etc.): $30

Total cost: $800

I got a little depressed there towards the end working on the Austin house, but I’m experiencing the flip side of the coin, now that I’m mainly focusing on the Main St. house. Given what I ended up doing at the Austin house (pretty much new paint throughout the entire interior/exterior, complete kitchen remodel, replacing both bath vanities and fixtures, patio stone on the front walkway, assorted swapping out of old outlets), it’s not so surprising it drug on so long, as far as getting everything done.

The Main St. house should be a comparative piece of cake (knock on wood), as most of the interior work is simply painting, painting, and more painting. Tiling the front porch and putting in a stone walkway in the front and back is going to be the killer, but I knock most of that out in a weekend. Or, you know, that’s the plan at least.

Was a little relieved/sad to see the foreclosure duplex I’d been eyeing finally go under contract. It probably would have been a pretty profitable rental, but would also have been a prettymassive rehab, so it’s likely not the worst thing in the world that I didn’t end up making an offer on it. There’s not a lot available now that looks all that promising, so I’m not sure what the next step is, once I finish up the work I’m planning on the Main St. house. I’ll likely have a bit of downtime regardless as we wait to sell both houses, unless the Austin one moves pretty quickly.

There’s always work to do on our home, though, as we bought a fixer for that very reason, and I need to get out of the mindset that it’s somehow not as profitable as working on an investment property instead.  Granted, it might be five years before that profit ever shows up, but it eventually should, whenever we sell this place and move on to whatever is next.

Part of it isn’t quite my fault, as my wife was sick this week and I had to spend Monday and Tuesday taking care of her. But aside from that, true to form, things continue to be much more difficult than they should be of late, as far as pretty much anything I touch at that house.

Much of the blame, though, rests squarely on my tired, dumb shoulders. Like managing to put on all of the lower kitchen cabinet doors upside down. And I actually pondered, for about three seconds, of just leaving them like that, with the handles about four inches from the floor. I mean, hey, a family of midgets would really appreciate that feature, right?

I’m also gimping around pretty good, after managing to sprain the crap out of my big toe today. I wish I had an exciting war story but, umm, no. Stepped on something sharp in the garage in my socks and jumped back onto my other foot, which didn’t quite respond correctly, with my toe getting caught underneath it during my ninja-like leap. Sweet.

Knock on wood, but the finish line is very much in sight (no, really, it is), and everything should be knocked out by this weekend. I keep telling myself it’s been a good learning experience, and it has, but it’s way past time to get my butt out of there and over to the Main St. house. I definitely fell victim to the “But I’ve already done A, B, and C, why not go ahead and do D? disease, and I think I’ve already zipped through the alphabet and started over again at the beginning. People buy less than perfect houses each and every day. Time to move on.

I am, finally, getting pretty close to the finish line. Another marathon day tomorrow should knock out all the major stuff and just leave a few odds and ends here and there. Overall I’m pretty happy with how things went, although it’s been a good learning experiment as far as just how long wrapping up all the myriad loose ends takes. I’ve been pretty spot-on as far as guesstimating how long the major stuff will take, but keep undershooting when it comes to guessing how long stuff like painting kitchen cabinets will take, or swapping out old outlets for GFCIs, etc. Which I guess comes with experience, as I do more of this stuff.

The new roof is going on the Main St. house on Monday, and hopefully I can redeploy the forces and start working on it by Wednesday. Just made the first mortgage payment so the click is ticking more loudly than it was before. I’m taking all of next week off from work, so hopefully I can put a major  dent in the Main St. house repairs. I’ve been waffling a bit on all the ceramic tile I planned to put down, and may instead pay someone to put down laminate. Working at the Austin house set plans back a bit and I need to get moving on the Main St. house, and likely just plunking down some money to get stuff done, without getting bogged down in trying to do everything myself as planned.

I got a little peeved at the lack of communication after signing the contract and basically hearing nothing for a week, but they got out and gave me an estimate within 24 hours, and got the countertops in within 10 days of signing the contract, so I’d have to give a thumbs up to Austin Countertops, if anyone in the Austin area ever needs such work done.

I’d planned on trying to finish the exterior painting last night after work, but upon arrival and checking out of the new countertops, I discovered that the hot water supply line was leaking a bit. The countertop folks handle disconnecting the sink/stove (and we ended up with a new integrated sink), but they don’t reconnect anything. I’d expected that, as they made it clear in the contract, but I didn’t expect to find a half full bucket of water underneath the sink, which they’d stuck under the leaking supply line.

So I ended up buying and installing a new kitchen faucet instead of painting, hooking the garbage disposal back up, and getting all the drains and what-not hooked up and squared away. Which, amazingly, all went off without too much of a hitch. Granted, those are all pretty newbie level projects on the plumbing scale, but I knocked it out pretty quickly, with no unexpected surprises or 162 trips to the hardware store.

I have to say, though, that I don’t see how plumbers work their magic, day in and day out. I’m not a big person at all, but I was just barely able to cram myself under the sink and contort around to where I could get to the necessary parts to lock the faucet down into place. How your stereotypical fat plumber with his butt crack hanging out would accomplish the same task, I have no clue. I guess by having his underpaid midget assistant do all the dirty work in tiny, confined spaces.

He was about an hour late showing up (surprise, surprise) but his quote of $2,000 was pretty reasonable, he does a lot of roofs in town, and said he could do it as soon as next week. He actually said he thought about buying the house himself, as he apparently does fix ‘n flips on the side.

So that’s looking promising, and a relief of sorts that my eyeball estimate of $2,000 for a new roof wasn’t too far off the mark. The plan after that was to get the backer board and tile for the floors, but I’d wasted too much time waiting around for roofing guy to show up, although I did get some more painting done.

I ended up just going home and finishing up mowing the yard, and, for some reason, decided to dig up the last raised bed in the front of the house, thus removing the last of the old rotting landscape timbers. Turned out to be a pretty exhausting, filthy job, and I decide to go ahead and dry stack the limestone blocks to replace the timbers. I got all that done, and thought well, hell, I might as well dig up and get all of the random chunks of stone and cinderblocks they had in front of that bed for no particular reason.

My back’s not too happy with me today but I’m glad I got all the above knocked out and finished. Lining up estimates for replacing the kitchen counters and bathroom vanities at the Austin house today, which is pretty much the only major barrier to listing the place. I’m going to paint most of the exterior and one room and a hallway, but I can knock all of that out in week or so of concentrated effort. It’s going to push back the target date for finishing up at the Main St. house, but them’s the breaks.

Not that I really had doubts, but it’s nice to make some headway, and to be reminded that “Hey, this thing is going to look a million times better when I’m done with it.” It’s kind of easy to lose sight of that amidst mounds of trash and bare plywood floors. Yesterday was the first day I was actually excited to be over there doing work, and slightly sad when it was time to close up shop for the day.

Today is designated spend-time-with-the-wife-and-do-no-work day, so, umm, I won’t get much done today, other than mowing the yard. Hopefully tomorrow I can sneak over and get some work done during the day, as I’d like to knock out the trim and cutting in of the living room and dining room, just to knock that off the list and move on.

Here are some random painting tips, in no particular order:

1) If you’re going to be rolling on the same paint in the near future, just wrap up the roller cover and roller in a plastic bag and stick it in the fridge. It’s much easier than trying to clean your roller cover, saves money as opposed to throwing it out, and it’ll stay moist and perfectly usable for a very long time. Your wife or husband may not love you for it, though, so be forewarned.

2) Get a medium length extension pole, like four or five feet tall (the cheapo wooden ones work fine) that screws into your paint roller. Screw it in and don’t unscrew it. Just get used to using the extension pole throughout the room, as it not only saves you time screwing and unscrewing it, but it allows you to get more leverage and apply the paint better even in spots you can reach by hand, without the pole. It takes a little getting used to at first but saves time in the long run and produces better results.

3) Paint out your paint cans. That’s just using a brush to get out all of the paint in an “empty” can. You’d be surprised at how much paint you can get out from the sides and bottoms, even when you think you’ve poured everything out. Multiply that times every can of paint you use and it adds up, especially for jobs where you come up just short and have to buy an extra quart. You paid good money for the paint so use it all.

4) Don’t waste money and time with the really cheap flimsy clear plastic drop “cloths”. I like to use blue truck tarps, even more so than canvas dropcloths, especially when painting empty rooms with no furniture. The blue truck tarps are substantial enough to hold whatever shape you fold them into or flop them over, and easy to move around and position.

5) When I’m painting over hardwood floors, I usually do it barefoot or in socks. No, I don’t have a weird foot fetish. I’m not a sloppy painter but when I do get paint on the floor, it’s almost always from accidentally stepping on paint on the drop cloth, then stepping on the floor and not realizing it immediately, tracking paint around in the interim. If I’m wearing shoes, I have no idea I stepped in paint; in bare feet, I know immediately. If you’re wearing socks you can also quickly wipe away any very small drips or spots of paint on the floor, by quickly rubbing back and forth with your socked foot.

6) Less paint on the roller is better. Fight the temptation to load it up with paint. 90% of paint slopped on the floor comes from loading too much paint on your roller. If you don’t immediately here the snickering, slithering sound of the roller on the wall, you’ve got too much paint on your roller, especially if it makes a wet, sloppy sound.

7) Don’t hurry when rolling on paint. 90% of overspray comes from rolling on paint too quickly. Just get a little paint on your roller and roll it on smoothly and slowly. In the long run you save much time by working slowly, as opposed to spending hours cleaning up your assorted messes.

8) If there’s going to be much painting in your future, bite the bullet and paint the trim without taping. This will likely get rocks chunked at me, but that magic blue masking tape really isn’t your friend. Doing good trim work just takes practice, and the finished product will look better if you don’t use tape. Not using tape will slow you down (and frustrate the crap out of you initially), but it’ll save you time and money in the long run. If you’re just knocking out some painting as a one time thing, tape the hell out of everything.

Kitchen: The kitchen is the only place I plan to actually take out a wall, just to buy a bit of extra pantry/storage space. It’s a bit hard to describe, but the third bedroom and the kitchen share a common wall, which is the back of the closet in the bedroom and the side of the pantry, in the kitchen.

The closet in the third bedroom, though, is currently where the hookups for the washer and dryer are, which is obviously less than ideal. The plan is to knock out the common wall the pantry/closet share, and simply dry-wall over the closet opening in the bedroom. That’ll leave a much larger pantry area where the washer/dryer would be located. The third bedroom won’t have a closet at all (and is too small to frame a new one in, even a shallow one), but them’s the breaks sometimes.

I’m going to paint the existing cabinets white but otherwise leave them alone, replacing the hardware. The stove and fridge aren’t new but they’re new enough. The flooring is vinyl tile, which I’m going to rip up and replace with ceramic tile (nothing fancy, and likely the same ceramic tile I use for the flooring in the bathroom). I’m on the fence about tiling the countertop. It’s a newish countertop but I don’t like the color much, as it’s a pinkish color. If I can make it look decent with the color of the ceramic tile on the floor and paint choice for the walls, I’ll keep it as is. If not, I’m going to tile over it.

The ceiling is currently old hideous acoustic tiles, but it’s got original tongue and groove ceilings underneath. I only pried off one tile but it looked to be in good shape. If the entire ceiling is in good shape once the tiles come down, I’m going to try to sand it all down to lighten up the wood color some and stain and seal it a very light color, with crown molding along the edges. If that’s not possible, I’ll probably go with beadboard to cover the ceiling. If I were having lots of other drywall work done I’d probably go with that, but what little I’m doing I can handle, and I kind of like the look of beadboard ceilings (in moderation) in older houses.

I’m also going to take out the big fluorescent light currently in the kitchen and replace it with recessed lighting.

Estimated cost for kitchen repairs: $500

Bathroom: Rip up the vinyl tile on the floor and replace with ceramic tile. The tub is in pretty good shape but the walls of the shower surround are plastic sheets of imitation tile, which look terrible. I’m going to rip all of that out, put in hardibacker (I’m guessing that it’s just regular sheetrock behind the panels, which will need to be replaced), and put in new ceramic tile on the tub surround.

The existing mirror/medicine cabinet is a tiny little original wood one, which is quaint and all but not so functional. Plan is to remove it, cover the hole with sheetrock and replace it with a new larger mirror (just a mirror, no medicine cabinet).

Then we come to the tricky part. I’m not sure how much money to put into the vanity area. It’s fairly new and in good shape as-is, but it’s a fairly cheap Home Depot special. There’s room for a double sink vanity, and it’d actually look a bit better, as the single sink vanity doesn’t really fill the recessed space it’s in, but it also doesn’t leave enough room on either empty side for a cabinet or storage rack.

Since it only has one bathroom, I’m pretty tempted to spend the money for a new vanity and double sink top. I can also salvage the existing vanity/top and use it in the future, recouping a little bit of the money at some point. It’s stretching a bit, and cutting against the grain of keeping things simple and cheap for this first flip, but if I’m going to spend money anywhere it should be here, to offset the fact that it’s only got 1 bathroom.

Estimated cost for bathroom repairs: $1,000

Roof, furnace, and water heater: This is where all of the monies are going to go. I’m probably looking at $5K or so, if I don’t replace the outside furnace unit, and more like $5,500 if I do. Boo.

The water heater is fine but needs a drain and pan installed.

Estimated cost for funace, roof, and water heater: $5,500

Painting walls, ceiling, and siding: The exterior is pretty much good to go, but I’ll likely paint all of the interior. More time consuming than expensive, but everything is currently painted a very pale yellow, which doesn’t do much for the eye.

Estimated painting cost: $300

Plumbing and electrical: Everything checked out during the inspection so hopefully this is all good to go.

Estimated cost: $0

Landscaping: This is a big one, but again, more time consuming than expensive. I’m going to put slate tile on the front porch and buld up limestone block beds around the entire house. I may put flagstone on the concrete walkway leading up to the house, but I’m saving this one for last, as it’ll depend on how much money I’ve spent. If the budget is struggling I’ll simply stain it and run a border of limestone blocks beside it.

I’ll sprinkle some new plants around the house and mulch all of the newly created flower beds. I’ll also likely build a simple flagstone patio in the back, set in stand with crushed granite as filler between the stones instead of grout. I’ll probably have to add some new sod here and there but I’m waiting to see how much of the grass comes back, now that spring has sprung.

I’ll also replace the metal wrought-iron on the front with two simple wooden columns.

I’m on the fence about adding a metal carport to the back. With the added costs for the furnace and roof thrown in, part of me thinks the carport is unnecessary, but it’d actually serve a dual purpose if I put it in, as it’d give some privacy to the patio area I’m planning (especially if I put up some latticework on one end of the carport, as the house is on a corner lot and the planned patio area would be close to a street. I’m going to add the cost in for now, but this may come out towards the end, like the flagstone front walkway, as I can simply do all of the other work and then make the final decision on whether to go with it or not.

Estimated cost for landscaping: $1,500

Flooring:  The hardwood floors in most of the house are in great shape, thank Jebus. I’m going to rip up the carpet in the back two bedrooms and refinish the floors there, staining them to match the rest of the floors. I should be able to knock out all of the sanding in one day, as both bedrooms are fairly small, so equipment rental cost should be fairly low.

Ceramic tile for kitchen and bath are included in those sections.

Estimated cost for flooring: $300

Windows and doors: They’re all in good enough shape and short of some touch up painting and minor repair here and there, I don’t planon spending anything here.

Estimated cost for windows and doors: $0

Miscellanous: New switchplates and outlet covers for much of the house. I’ll have to replace some of the trim here and there, and will add crown molding in the living room, dining room, and kitchen. Plus other random costs for spackle, nails, screws, yada yada yada.

Estimated miscellaneous cost: $250

Total estimated cost for repairs: $9,350

Two months of mortgage payments plus insurance and utilities: $1,250

Ignoring fees and taxes and other expenses, that’d put my cost at around $70,600, for a house I orignally hoped to sell for $85,000. Which obviously isn’t going to make me wealthy, netting me a profit of $7,000-$8,000 when it was all said and done.

But that’s with me likely erring on the side of caution, pretty much everywhere, and absorbing all of the optional expenses mentioned above. That’s also a really conservative selling price, especially if I spend a little extra to nicen things up, since my original plan was to do the bare minimum of work necessary and sell it fast.

I’ve been watching the local MLS listings on a daily basis for the last six months or so, and am pretty confident that listing at $89,500 and accepting as low as $85,000 would move it really quickly. With all the planned improvements, though, listing at something like $94,500 is a lot more feasible, and it’s not outside the realm of possibility that I’d get a buyer at that price. Since I can’t sell before 3 months have passed due to my mortgage, I have a little more room to initially list it on the higher side, and adjust it down accordingly if I’m getting close to having to make a third mortgage payment.

So that’s pretty much the very rough plan, in a nutshell. I hope to have all the repairs done by April 15th, and the house re-listed and on the market. Preliminary budget is $9,350 for repairs, but with some optional items included. Original listing price will be at $94,500, hopefully selling the house at $90,000. Net profit after all fees and taxes would be somewhere in the $10,000-$12,000 range.

Or, you know, something like that.

Although that seems straightforward, it actually bears a closer look. There are actually a fair number of moving parts to that equation, and it’s not simply a matter of doing anything to increase the sale price when you unload the property. Spending $5K on certain repairs to increase the selling price from $100,000 to $105,000 isn’t increasing your bottom line (although there could be some value in those repairs if they speed up how quickly you can sell the house, of if they’re a basic necessity such as a new roof or furnace), so you can’t just dwell on the higher sticker price and ignore the costs involved.

If you’re doing some of the repair work yourself, you also have to factor in your labor costs. If it takes you 50 hours to re-tile that bathroom, are you really “saving” the $750 that it would have cost to have a professional do it for you? If that tile work you do increases the selling price by $750, is that extra money really “profit”?

Complicating things even further is the fact that just because a house is in need of obvious repairs, it doesn’t mean that making those repairs will produce a profit. If the seller correctly discounted their asking price based on the repairs, you’re not necessarily extracting extra profits by making those repairs. On paper, you only buy the house at a discount idue to disrepair if the seller incorrectly judges the expense involved in making assorted repairs; if the seller judges that cost accurately, it’s a wash.

The important part there (and the real point of this) is the “on paper” part, which could also be substituted with “In a vacuum”. That logic starts to fall down pretty quickly, as buying and selling homes almost never happens in a vacuum, and instead involves much emotion, on the part of both parties.

As a flipper, what you’re really looking for are properties that need repairs in certain emotional hot spots, which can produce a profit in excess of the actual cost and labor you put into fixing them. If you can do these repairs yourself, even better, as that magnifies your profit even more. Emotional profits happen when you spend $1 in a certain area to produce an emotional response from a buyer that leads them to want to pay you $2 in return

What exactly are these emotional hot spots, then, that flippers can focus on to increase their profits? Let’s look at some repairs that both do and don’t falling into that category.

1) Kitchens and bathrooms: You can’t throw a monkey at a house flipping show on television without hearing someone talk about how important updating and renovating the kitchen and bathrooms are, as far as getting bang for your buck. Is there some special vortex in those areas of the house that causes potential buyers to lose their minds and whip out their checkbooks?

Nope. The reason they can make flippers money is that they often voke an emotional response with buyers, especially those who are either looking to buy their first home or upgrade to a nicer home. You’re appealing to that voice in their head that’s whispering “I’ve always wanted granite kitchen countertops, just like in fancy, classy houses” or “I’d love to have a bathroom with a double sink vanity and tile shower, instead of our cramped little tiny bathroom I can barely turn around in,” or “I’m so sick of living in houses with cheap vinyl tile on the floors of the bathroom and kitchen.”

If they’re using words like “want” and “love”, you’ve done your job. The great thing about kitchens and baths is that some of the upgrades that resonate with buyers actually aren’t expensive or hard to do yourself, such as installing ceramic floor tile, updating fixtures, and refinishing kitchen cabinets or vanities. Every $1 you spend here can easily return $1.50-$2.00, especially if you can do some of the labor yourself.

Upgrading kitchen appliances falls into this category, too, especially with stainless appliances, but this is usually more of a break-even proposition, as far as getting back $1 for every $1 you spend. It’s usually money well spent, though, as long as you correctly judge the market and the house. Putting granite and all stainless appliances in a starter house in a lower income area isn’t smart, just as putting Formica countertops and a used oven in a higher-end home is equally dumb.

2) Roofs, furnaces, and water heaters: These are not sexy upgrades. In theory, people like it if they’re brand new, as they know they won’t have to worry about replacing them for many years, and you’ll often recoup most of your expense from making repairs in these areas.

You’re just not going to get any emotional profits out of them, as very few buyers get insanely excited about something that’s considered a basic necessity. You still need to make the upgrade, but for every $1 you spend you’ll likely get back only .75-$1.00. You also typically have to hire out these jobs so there’s no room to save money by doing the work yourself.

3) Painting walls, ceilings, and siding: Paint is the flipper’s best friend. Color is a great way to evoke emotion and it’s relatively cheap and easy to apply. There’s really no excuse for not painting your flip properties yourself, as it’s one of those areas that is expensive to hire out but requires no special skills or abilities (which are relatively rare in the world of home renovation and should always be embraced when available).

Putting color to work for you throughout the house is a great way to spend $1 and get back $2 in return, especially if you do the painting yourself.

4) Plumbing and electrical: Not sexy. These can kill a flip as they’re not only a necessity that’s hidden away, but hiring an electrician or plumber to handle the reapirs is usually very expensive. If you tell a buyer that all the plumbing and electrical has been updated they’ll nod and say “Cool”, but no one is going to gush “OH MY GOD I’ve always wanted to leave in a house with updated plumbing!”

I’m just guessing here but I wouldn’t be surprised at all if you only get back .50-.80 for every $1 you spend on plumbing and electrical repairs.

5) Landscaping: This one straddles both worlds. Some basic landscaping is expected by most buyers and is simply part of the price of admission, such as a decent lawn, trimmed trees, etc.

Other landscaping can be more emotional, such as adding a patio or deck to a plain, empty backyard. Lots of buyers see those and think “Ahh, I’d love to finally have a spot to relax after work in the backyard,” or “It’d be lovely to eat breakfast out on the deck in the morning,” or “It’d be great to be able to have family over for a cookout.”

Another plus here is that landscaping and deck materials are reasonably inexpensive and are projects well within the capacity of most flippers, as far as doing the work yourself. Yeah, it’s a lot of time and sweat equity, but it doesn’t require an engineering degree or advanced skills other than being able to push around a wheelbarrow or use a level and hammer.

Basic landscaping is usually about break-even, but adding a simple deck or patio can often return $1.00-$1.25 for every $1 you spend.

6) Windows and doors: With the exception of the front door, windows and doors aren’t sexy, plus they’re pretty pricey. Yes, putting in all new windows is a nice feature to point out to buyers, but in most cases the new windows are, in the end, functional, and not something that causes buyers to do backflips of joy. Remember, the buyer didn’t see the old, decrepit windows that were there before, so they’re not goingto be as wowed as you are when brand-new, shiny windows are in place.

You’ll usually take a small hit here, as far as getting back .75-.80 for every $1 you spend on new windows and doors.

7)  Flooring: Depending on the individual house, this one can get emotional and profitable. Refinishing hardwood floors in older homes that had previously been covered by carpet can be a huge source of profits, especially if you do the work yourself. (Don’t laugh, it’s dusty, boring work but well within the capabilites of many flippers, if you’re careful and patient.)

Laminates are also a good choice, especially for starter homes, as they evoke the emotional appeal of hardwood floors but at a fraction of the cost and are, again, within the capabilities of most flippers to install, with some patience. Ceramic tile is another nice option, especially to replace vinyl tile in bathrooms and kitchens, as it’s inexpensive and not that hard to install.

While it’s hard to get much emotional bang from replacing old carpet with new, neutral carpet, you can get a lot of bang for your buck if you’re refinishing hardwood floors or upgrading from vinyl to tile.

8) Outlets, switch plates, and hardware:  These are actually a great source of flipping profits, despite the fact that you’d think they were tiny little details that wouldn’t budge your bottom line much.

I’m always amazed at how many houses I see for sale where people don’t even bother to take the thirty seconds (and $.50 or so in expense) to screw in a switchplate for a light switch that’s completely missing one. Ditto for leaving old, painted over plugs in outlets, outlets sitting there bare, etc.

Will updating these make you thousands of dollars? Of course not. But in the realistic world of house flipping, you’ve got to eke out profits anywhere you can. You should be overjoyed at finding a house where you can spend $100 and invest an hour of work for a return of $200 when you sell the house. Making $100/hour is, in my book, a pretty nice salary and return on investment. If your inclination is to say “Ahh, screw it, it’s just $100″, then you likely should stick to watching all of the house flipping shows on television.