House Repairs to Flip For

Flipping homes for profit is the real estate dream. Looking for a bargain buy is the savvy first step, but you’ll find that you often get what you are willing to put into the home after the sale. Of course, nobody wants to lose money on their property investment, and with these remodeling tips, you (hopefully) won’t have to.

Thankfully, you need not remodel the entire home to get more bang for your resale buck. Instead, making a few specific upgrades can both make a huge increase in the value of your property and be wholly manageable.

It’s no secret that people looking to buy a new home often try to picture themselves living in that space. They want a house to be the perfectly magical blend of cozy, “lived in,” “full of character,” and unique. They want it to be the type of place they can see their future selves in, the kind of place that represents a space they’d like to occupy.

These house hacks help with creating that kind of buyer impression that will make or break the deal.

Clean up the Shell

One of the easiest ways to freshen up your curb appeal is to wash that dirty house. Pressure washing siding, cleaning gutters, and washing windows will give an immediate impression to potential homebuyers about the state of the place before they even step foot on the property and see your impressive backyard/light fixtures/ crown molding selling points.

Update Doors

You don’t need a blue front door to make an impression (though it certainly can’t hurt). New doors that are statement pieces can add to both your curb appeal and, potentially, allow more light into your home. The front door and the garage give the strongest first impressions, so make sure that you’re utilizing them to their fullest potential. Doors inside the house needn’t be as flashy (or expensive), but can be great opportunities to serve as a base for décor. At the very least, make sure they don’t detract from the mood you’re trying to create.

Slick It Up

Wallpaper is nobody’s best friend. If you buy a place at auction, and it’s plagued with paper from the early 70s, taking it down (which is a daunting task, I grant you) and replacing it with paint will freshen the place up—and take at least a few years off. Perhaps more importantly, paint will be easier for the potential buyer to change after they purchase the home, if they so choose, and is potentially less visually offensive than patterned paper, in my humble opinion.

Landscape

Even if you live in a desert and your “lawn” is composed of rocks, it should still be made to look organized and intentional. If you live in an area where people have lawns, make sure you do too. Is your lawn plagued with billbugs? Lay down some sod. Have overgrown shrubs that make your house look like the Haunted Manor? Trim it up. Landscape borders can be a great way to give the impression that the yard is contained and well-cared for with very little effort on your part.

Update Kitchen Fixtures

Appraisers often judge the “modernity” or a home based upon the kitchen. Kitchen updates are a common indicator of how up-to-date a home is, which is important both to increase the official value of your home and make your buyer feel confident that they won’t have to worry about buying a set of new appliances within the year.

Buying foreclosures and flipping them can pay off, especially with just these few remodeling strategies that pack a punch.