Buying a "flipped house" - would you, have you?

[Downinthetubestationatmidnight]

I've seen a "flipped" house on Rightmove today, i.e. one bought and done up quickly to sell for a big profit. My friend lives in the area and knows of the vendors, she tells me this is the third/fourth time they have flipped and make around £100,000 each time when they sell a year after doing up. The vendors have FT jobs, this is something done alongside those. Nothing wrong with flipping of course. But, have doubts on how well the work would be done etc. Property has no extension done, work all cosmetic.

[BrightYellowDaffodil]

No. I'm not paying for someone else's taste that they've had done just to bump up the price. I'm not paying for stuff I'm going to rip out and replace; I'd rather buy a house that hasn't had anything done. I'd be wary of the standard that work had been done to, and whether it's all been a bit Changing Rooms just to make it look nice and add the extra £££s to the asking price. And I'm not wild about lining the pockets of those who are pushing up prices for those who just bloody well want somewhere to live.

[Pally2]

I bought a flipped house about 15 years ago. I owned it for about 7 years. I would never buy another one. Everything was cheaply and badly done. Eg I ended up rewiring it myself, put a new kitchen in even though they had put one in- theirs had the original layout which was awful. Dreadful boiler, partly fitted bathroom etc. Cellar was a swimming pool every winter. And I had a full survey on it. I stayed well clear of anything similar when I bought my current house, definitely once bitten twice shy.

[ChristmasArmadillo]

We bought a flipped home and it’s very good quality work - we had it very carefully inspected prior to closing though as they aren’t always! They made 75k+ on it I believe.

[mirime]

They'll have to provide proof of planning permission, gas safe certificate etc. We're selling our house and have had to provide reams of paperwork to the conveyencers and pay for an indemnity policy for work done by the previous owners that we have no proof of planning permission for.

You would need to have a good survey done and your solicitor should pick up on a lot of things as well.

[Downinthetubestationatmidnight]

OK, thanks, will ask if we decide to proceed. It's probably the best property we've viewed, just want to be as sure as possible all work has been done well for such a big premium.

[GnomeDePlume]

Agree with VeryLittleOwl about the rewire. Much has changed in the last year's to improve safety of wiring in the home.

They should have a Building Regs certificate for the new boiler and any electrical work.

[billysboy]

probably a brown envelope changing hands to enable them to buy a probate property
If you are worried get a surveyor or reputable builder in to look at it

[Downinthetubestationatmidnight]

Just got back from the viewing. The vendors knocked a reception room wall down to create a kitchen diner, the kitchen units look nice, not granite worktops, like a shiny marble effect. They added some windows but other windows already done when they bought it. Ensuite and bathroom look good but wouldn't be sure on quality. Fuse box not added by them but looks OK. New boiler, carpets the same throughout. Not a lot of storage, no wardrobes fitted. New alarm. The Estate agent said they had put some radiators in but not all. Original roof. They did get the house incredibly cheaply, EA said part of an estate.

[VeryLittleOwl]

60+, so built in the late 1950s-ish? Yes, I'd be expecting to rewire that if it hadn't been done already. No way would I be comfortable with wiring that old coping with the electrical load of modern living. I suspect you'll find that the consumer unit and the meter have been updated at the very least. Saying that, my current project had a wooden fuse box in it!

If they're selling for £100k more each time, then they must be doing a reasonably significant amount of work for the surveyors to support the valuations when the sales go through. A lot of the work may well be the invisible stuff - wiring, pipework, heating, insulation and so on - and that adds up surprisingly fast.

[TildaKauskumholm]

Let the seller know that you know, and ask exactly what has been done. Ask to see invoices, etc.

[Downinthetubestationatmidnight]

The difference with the house we're viewing obviously is that a substantial premium has been added on to it so you might expect rewiring to have been done during the renovation work.

[Downinthetubestationatmidnight]

Would you expect a house 60 plus years old to have been rewired or only if any problems? I know it is a big job and would need re decorating afterwards. We viewed a 1960s house recently and were told no problems with it so hadn't been upgraded.

[GnomeDePlume]

If you look at an apparently recently renovated house my advice would be to check that the infrastructure (electrics, plumbing, central heating) has the appropriate Building Regs certificates.

Dont be swayed by fancy paintwork/carpets. These are only nice to look at until they have to be channeled through or ripped up to replace unmodernised cabling and pipework.

Better a tidy renovation with plain magnolia on the walls that you can replace at your leisure.

[Downinthetubestationatmidnight]

Thanks for all your comments, very helpful, good advice from those who have bought and flipped. We are viewing the house over the weekend. Definitely not extended at all by them. Estate agents said it was bought from an elderly man who lived there a long time. Roof is the original roof, 60 plus years old, looks in good condition from the photograph. Will report back.

[fourquenelles]

Since moving into my ready to go renovated Victorian Terrace that looked really good on first and second viewing I have discovered :

*lighting guage wire used for white goods in the kitchen
*17 year old boiler installed when central heating was put in
*shower not tanked properly
*bathroom taps turn off and on the wrong way
*plaster board not finished properly so cracks down sides beginning to show
*skirtings not finished properly so joins very obvious

• plaster was obviously not dried out before it was pianted white so flakes easily
  
• no damp course at the back of the kitchen
  
  I am sure there is more. It was bought on the death of a 94 year old widow so needed a lot doing but was flipped and sold to me (dumbo) within 9 months by amatuer bodgers.
  
  In addition to the sale price I must have spent another £5K easily putting stuff right. Good job I love my little house.

[Yura]

Our house was “flipped”. suited us fine as it meant we could move in immediately, didn’t have to change anything. now, 5 years in, we are starting to change things. We both work full time with 2 small children - no time to redecorate a house and live on a building site. we did do a full survey though!

[GrumbleBumble]

18 months between buying and selling doesn't suggest a speed botch job - if they were in and out in 4 weeks it would be a different matter. Go have a close look, ask to see electric certificates etc. Find out what work has been done (just a repaint or have they extended?). Lots of people buy do up and sell to make a living (or additional money in this case) some do a great job other bit so much. Over 10 years after moving into our "newly developed" house we are still finding bodged jobs. Within weeks of moving in we referred to it as like a brothel in the wild west - because everything in it had been fucked by a cowboy! Still love the house though even if I could cheerfully throttle the former owners and their so called "professional" builder.

[mirime]

Looking at the history of our house, at one point it was sold for £20,000, six months later resold for £79,000. I'd say the workmanship was acceptable, but the people before us made some, shall we say unwise decisions, that messed things up a bit...

Lesson learned, do not buy from anyone whose hobby is DIY.

I'd also add that if you're in an area with japanese knotweed I'd be very wary of a flipped house with a completely cleared garden. Saw a lot of that and it didn't look so good 6 months later.

[thecatsthecats]

The people who 'flip' houses local to me seem to have an absolute bonkers taste in decor for the area.

The premium paid locally is for original features in Victorian terraces.

The flippers all seem to have the same, modern-officey type tastes coupled with a few token bits of coving. And a Neff kitchen. Always a Neff kitchen.

These properties always come on at the top of the market for their 'high spec' interiors, and always sell for less than the quirky, creaky, original places done up in muted F+B tones.

I enjoy this as a spectator sport.

[PCohle]

It wouldn't bother me.

Obviously it's annoying to pay significantly more for basic upgrades that you could have made yourself but if it's a home you like that's still fairly priced, refusing to buy it because it's been flipped seems like cutting off your nose to spite your face.

It my view a lot of the price increases in flipped houses are more attributable to rising house prices and the area improving than the actual improvements made to the house. Especially if the "flip" takes years rather than months.

As for quality, I'd rather have a cheap kitchen that was newly put in than a kitchen that was cheap and has had 15 years of wear.

[MirandaWest]

I also thought it was a house with bedroom downstairs and kitchen upstairs.

Have they made £100k profit or are they selling it for £100k more?

[DustyMaiden]

I flip houses, all work to perfection. Look at the work. Any house could have been done cheaply or badly or not.

[NicoAndTheNiners]

Would totally depend on the quality of the improvements and how well it was priced compared to other houses. I can imagine buying a bomb site of a house and doing a quality bathroom, kitchen, replastering, etc maybe some internal reconfiguration could add value to a house. If the couple have good DIY skills it's possible that the quality of the work is good.

[blueskiespls]

I would start by looking on rightmoce at 'Sold Prices" you can then see exactly what it sold for before and also see the old house details. So that may give you some idea of how it was before. Obviously you can't see close up. But just an idea.
Link to Sold Prices :

www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices.html

[OpportunityKnocks]

House on our road was snapped up by a developer, put crappy everything in and then sold of for 25%more than purchased for.
Sold it to another developer who ripped out the budget floors, kitchen and bathroom and sold it again for another 25% increase.