Those flippin' flippers

[chim]

Here's a picture of a house being "renovated" near me. Until a couple months ago, it couldn't be seen from the road because of all the vegetation that took over. Last week they re-roofed it. The porch roof looked like it was about to fall off, so they kinda propped it up (it was sagging about a foot more before the prop) and put new shingles on it. There's an abandoned van that the weeds reclaimed and part of a barn can be seen sticking above the overgrowth behind the house. There are a number of places around here that are being flipped that sure don't look healthy.

 

[DustyRusty]

If your local community has zoning and a building department, they will make sure that what the flippers do should be up to code. It is better that it be flipped and lived in that to have squatters move in and trash the place.

 

[lynnmor]

My grandson had a real estate agent finding him a home and most were offered by flippers. He asked me to go along to evaluate the properties and I couldn't believe the junk out there. His wife got real pissed at me since I found all kinds of issues but she just wanted a home. Well they got one when they didn't take me along, I wish them luck, they will need it. Flippers just put lipstick on a pig, codes be damned.

 

[RCW]

If your local community has zoning and a building department, they will make sure that what the flippers do should be up to code. It is better that it be flipped and lived in that to have squatters move in and trash the place.

My grandson had a real estate agent finding him a home and most were offered by flippers. He asked me to go along to evaluate the properties and I couldn't believe the junk out there. His wife got real pissed at me since I found all kinds of issues but she just wanted a home. Well they got one when they didn't take me along, I wish them luck, they will need it. Flippers just put lipstick on a pig, codes be damned.

Code Enforcement varies greatly by area. We don't have much Zoning in our 900 square miles.

Former Farmhouse across the road was vacant due to foreclosure of Reverse Mortgage and death of owners.

I mowed the 1 acre lawn for 6 years. First, so it wouldn't be an eyesore for our neighbors next door, and secondly so it looked like someone was there.

While mowing there, I noticed tire tracks around a hidden part of the back of the lawn/property on a regular basis as though someone was occupying the house or barn...

House and barn appeared secured. Quite frankly, I was trespassing mowing the lawn. I had no authorization to do so.

I reported it to the local PD, and it turns out it was a young police patrolman driving 'round back during his 2300-0700 shift in his patrol car for a LONG nap........

 

[chim]

My grandson had a real estate agent finding him a home and most were offered by flippers. He asked me to go along to evaluate the properties and I couldn't believe the junk out there. His wife got real pissed at me since I found all kinds of issues but she just wanted a home. Well they got one when they didn't take me along, I wish them luck, they will need it. Flippers just put lipstick on a pig, codes be damned.

Been part of that drill myself. Two of the boys didn't want much help and they made out OK anyway. #3 Son wanted me to be more involved. We checked maybe 6 or 7 houses with an agent that he knew. Saw some really strange ways that people thought they should do work on the places. One bi-level had a garage addition with a second floor. It had a stairs so steep that it resembled a ships ladder to access the second floor. At the top there was a goofy little hallway. One end of the hallway connected to the kitchen on the upper house level and you had to go down a few steps inside the kitchen to get to that floor level. There was no other means of going between the garage and the house. I asked the agent if he could find us a few houses where the owner had NOT done any "improvements". He ended up with a nice rancher and the daylight basement was done by the owner and his dad and it looks professionally done. Turns out we are distantly related to the seller.

The picture below is the main electrical panel in a place that another son and his wife had found and checked on their own. They had already made a deposit before I had a chance to see it. Between the electrical work, misc. other strange things and an exterior dryvit application that was getting ready to fall off, they were able to get out of the deal and not lose any money.

It's still very much a seller's market here. A retired friend of ours found a real gem but paid well in excess of the listed price. She and others have told us that many buyers are skipping the "inspection" services that were in vogue here in recent years because any delay would mean another buyer would get the house. I reviewed a couple of these inspection reports and although a couple of the reports were indeed nice presentations, they didn't inspire much confidence. Potential buyers were clearly but tactfully told that the inspector doesn't guarantee the accuracy of their reports.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

Wonder how many 'wrong items' are with that electrical panel ??
I see....
1) no cover
2) ON without cover
3) switched neutral

BTW I saw 10-12 important structural issues with a brand new build that was OKed by City building department ,near me 4 years ago...so just because it was 'inspected and passed' doesn't mean it IS 'up to code' !!!

 

[Daren Todd]

In Arkansas, even after making an offer, you have 15 days to back out.

Arkansas strongly requires a home inspection done by a third party of the purchasers choice,

So that gives you another option to back out.

Around here, people are competing with flippers on the majority of cheaper homes out there.

That's what my wife and I ran into.

If a home is listed under $150k you pretty much expect a flipper to scoop the place up within hours of it being listed.

 

[lynnmor]

Around here the Amish buy almost anything regardless of price. Condition of electrical, plumbing and most anything doesn't matter. They are reproducing so fast and want real estate for their offspring. Next door is a 5 acre property that had a nice house and an old field stone house that was begging to be restored but the new Amish owner will now destroy it since he chainsawed the 200 year old front door for the chickens.

 

[D2Cat]

Around here the Amish buy almost anything regardless of price. Condition of electrical, plumbing and most anything doesn't matter. They are reproducing so fast and want real estate for their offspring. Next door is a 5 acre property that had a nice house and an old field stone house that was begging to be restored but the new Amish owner will now destroy it since he chainsawed the 200 year old front door for the chickens.

Do Amish reproduce faster the other humans?

 

[Runs With Scissors]

My grandson had a real estate agent finding him a home and most were offered by flippers. He asked me to go along to evaluate the properties and I couldn't believe the junk out there. His wife got real pissed at me since I found all kinds of issues but she just wanted a home. Well they got one when they didn't take me along, I wish them luck, they will need it. Flippers just put lipstick on a pig, codes be damned.

At least they listened. Edit: After re-reading your post I realized that I should have lead off with "I feel your pain my brother"

I went with my SIL and daughter and when the realtor looked at me and said "What do you think?"

I said "What do you mean by.... "What do you think?........ I think this place is the biggest hunk of shit in the world. Who the hell would buy this place?"

Then he said, "well they are lucky it's still on the market"

To which I replied "how long has it been listed?"

He said "6 months"

To which I sarcastically said "Oh yea....I feel real F'ing lucky alright"

Me to realtor "Anyone that buys this shithole is on crack."




They were there when I said it, and they still bought it.......

My SIL could not get the "32 acres" out of his head, and my daughter went along with it.

This place has a better roof line and is more "plumb and square"

Something about 'leading horses to water" comes to mind.

 

[lynnmor]

Do Amish reproduce faster the other humans?

At least 4 times as fast.

 

[Henro]

At least they listened. Edit: After re-reading your post I realized that I should have lead off with "I feel your pain my brother"

I went with my SIL and daughter and when the realtor looked at me and said "What do you think?"

I said "What do you mean by.... "What do you think?........ I think this place is the biggest hunk of shit in the world. Who the hell would buy this place?"

Then he said, "well they are lucky it's still on the market"

To which I replied "how long has it been listed?"

He said "6 months"

To which I sarcastically said "Oh yea....I feel real F'ing lucky alright"

Me to realtor "Anyone that buys this shithole is on crack."




They were there when I said it, and they still bought it.......

My SIL could not get the "32 acres" out of his head, and my daughter went along with it.

This place has a better roof line and is more "plumb and square"

View attachment 138380


Something about 'leading horses to water" comes to mind.

Well, depends on the price I suppose. Our house on this property was a total piece of sh*t, but we lived in it for five years before moving into the house we built here with our own hands, and the savings in rent paid for the property.

POS in this case means built from crate wood (stencils still on it I discovered when tearing it down). Floors sloped 12” in 20 feet. You could see the slope in the liquid level in a beer glass. And so on…

Biggest mistake I made was not saving one of those boards with the stencils on it showing the shipping address… to hang on the wall in the new house. Live and learn.

Who knows…32 acres… maybe they got it right? Time will tell….

 

[lugbolt]

no pics but I bought a house behind me a while back, rehabbed it, and sold it before the hot market started to cool. Did well with it, but I am not your typical flipper. Most of them will do the bare minimum. I want it to be like a place I could call home. That significantly helps it's value anyway. I think a lot of them are after the volume more than anything and the bare minimum gets done, and new owner gets a potential nightmare. They are usually obvious-like the one in the original post. Preying on people who don't know anything.