In England we call it property developing. It can be a very profitable business to be in but you need knowledge of the markets or you will lose money. My brother and I considered getting into property developing but we soon realised it was a lot more complicated than we first thought.
That is so cool. I wish I had the money and business sense to do something smart like that. It's probably better for the tourists to have a kitchen and the comforts of a private home rather than an overpriced hotel room. Your friend has a good mind for business.
Of course when you get a high number of people playing the house flipping game, then all it does is drive housing prices up into the ridiculous. It is a bit different if a buyer takes a property and does a real bit of renovation work on it. Turns a piece of crap into a presentable house. That is fair but just the pure speculation just drives house prices up. The practice added to the real estate bubble that burst in 2007 - 2008. It was not the only reason but it did play a part. Ryder13
I love those house flipping shows. They're so addictive. I love to see how they turn a total hovel into a nice home. There's a lot of creativity involved. I can basically waste a whole Saturday watching those shows.
There are people who have turned flipping houses into a career and that's great for them. The problem is that sometimes it can screw up the market for everyone else. Most often flippers buy cheap, do the minimum amount of work on a property and then resell it for way more than what they paid for it. I think if someone wanted to buy and restore properties because they were into doing that, it would be a much better endeavor.
I don't have a problem with those that want to flip houses, but the house prices in my area are exploding. I bought this house in April, and houses around here are going for nearly double what I paid. I'm not sure what's causing the sudden boom, I am just glad that I bought this place when I did.
As I know it house flipping involves purchasing a home that is in need of repair; making the repairs; sprucing up the property; and selling the home within a short period of time definitely craving to make a profit. This is thus a great way to make extra money. I have a friend who does house flipping and as he mentioned he always make $10000 for each property. I think this is great and I may enter into it soon.
Something like this isn't really dependent on the market. You have to think local needs in order to make money flipping. If you buy a house in a bad neighborhood that no one will want to move into, it doesn't matter what the house the looks like. It won't sell.
Great post @Novasparker! love it! In my opinion, as a certified Real Estate personnel, I can attest that house flipping works,and it works most certainly in where I live, Jamaica, several Doctors and Lawyers will buy a house(a fixer-upper) in an upper middle class neighborhood, add to the house,make it look really nice and when it is complete, the value of the house doubled! some choose to sell, while some choose to live in them, in truth and in fact, I know of several upper-middle class neighborhoods in the country where I live which has been completely transformed to an upper income neighborhood based on the fact that the houses there were really added to( fixed up), so house flipping in my view can and still works, but you have to know how to and when to do it, and you also have to be very careful of over adding to your home- if you over add, you may not be able to get a good valuation on your home to suit what you had spent on it.