U.S. Home Flipping Drops Below 5 Percent of All Sales in the Second Quarter of 2014 to a 2-Year Low - Seite 3

"Opportunities for investors to flip homes is still very much alive and well in Southern California as inventory is starting to expand," said Chris Pollinger, senior vice president of sales at First Team Real Estate, covering Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties in the Southern California market.

Phoenix and Los Angeles flippers espouse extensive rehab on flips
Maria Giordano, a former nurse-turned-flipper who has flipped more than 20 houses in the Phoenix market over the past two years, takes a rehab-heavy approach when flipping a house.

"I am one of those flippers who is not just replacing paint and carpet," she said, adding that her typical flip is a home that is 40 to 50 years old but that she also does extensive rehab on newer homes. "Even if it's a house that was built in the 1990s, I'm gutting the master bath, usually the hallway bath, taking out walls, really changing the floor plan ... so really you're giving someone the look of a brand new house in an older neighborhood."

Jennifer Laske, who has been flipping homes in the Compton and Inglewood areas of Los Angeles for the past two years with her husband, said she takes a similar approach.

"Putting lipstick on the problem isn't going to end us up with a beautiful house," she said of a recent flip that required ripping out walls and shoring up the foundation. "The floor plan layouts that we've changed, everything that we've done here is to maximize the dollar amount when this house sells, and also make somebody really love this house. So we're not trying to put some paint here and trick anyone, we're actually trying to make a really beautiful house."

Report methodology
RealtyTrac analyzed sales deed data and automated valuation data for this report. A single family home flip was any transaction that occurred in the second quarter where a previous sale on the same property had occurred within the last 12 months.

Special note on methodology change in second quarter of 2014: RealtyTrac adjusted its methodology for flipping to include properties bought and subsequently resold within 12 months vs. six months in previous reports. This methodology was applied retroactively to previous quarters as well for comparison.

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