“I found this article from Steve Brown with the Dallas News interesting. He mentions how well home flippers are doing right now. I am not finding that to be true. With inventory so low, the investor is not able to buy homes for pennies on the dollar like they were last year. I get 5+ calls a week from investors asking if I have any “off market” properties. Why would anyone sell their home to one of these investors when they could possibly get far more money putting the home on the open market and inviting multiple offers.
I understand that some homes are in such major disrepair that the average buyer cannot afford nor do they have the resources to take on such a large project. But many just need cosmetics, paint, flooring, bath and kitchen updates. The worst part about some of the home flippers is the quality of their work. We call it “putting lipstick on a pig” It does not make the pig any happier or healthy for that matter it just covers up the underlying issues. But it looks good.”
Mary Beth Harrison
Dallas Native Team | Dave Perry-Miller Real Estate
Almost 1,100 North Texas homes were flipped during the most recent quarter.(Amy Sancetta / AP)
D-FW ranked ninth nationally for home flips in the most recent quarter.
Home flippers aren’t taking time off for the pandemic.
The number of house flips — and sale profits — is up from a year ago in Dallas-Fort Worth and nationwide.
Nationwide home flips were almost 6% higher than year-ago totals in the second quarter, according to a new report by Attom Data Solutions.
And in Dallas-Fort Worth, home flips were up 4.7% year-over-year.
Second-quarter home flips were down from the first quarter in both North Texas and nationwide.
“Far fewer house hunters were out in the market looking for homes, which probably cut into the pool of potential buyers that investors could tap,” Attom Data’s Todd Teta said in the report. “But at the same time, home flippers who were able to close deals did better than they had done in a year and a half.
“That likely flowed in large part from extremely low interest rates that enticed buyers who remained employed and were willing to house hunt within social distancing requirements.”
Demand for houses pushed up the profits flippers got from their sales.
The typical gross profit flippers made was $67,902 — up $6,000 from second quarter 2019.
In the D-FW area, flippers on average made $48,492 in gross profits — 19% more than in second quarter 2019. The median price of North Texas homes sold by flippers in the most recent quarter was $250,492.
Attom Data found almost 1,100 D-FW home flips during the most recent quarter. That’s about 6% of total home sales during the period.
The D-FW area ranked ninth nationally for home flips.
The most flips during the quarter were in Phoenix (2,448) and Atlanta (2,420).
D-FW was the only Texas market to land in the top 10 list for flips. Houston ranked 17th with only 750 flips.
To count in the numbers, a house had to be purchased and resold during a 12-month time frame with an arm’s-length transaction.
D-FW ranked ninth for second quarter home flips.(Attom Data Solutions. )