Flipping vs Fixing vs Investing

I get occasional questions about the difference between these three kinds of activity. Well, there are subjective parts to the answer, but here are some general guidelines:

A true flipper is looking for a quick turn on the property, usually without much work done to really improve the property. They don't typically keep the property and rent it; they're not willing to accept the work of being a landlord. They make their money off of desperate sellers and getting a very low price for a property. Typically, their profit comes from how far down they can drive a desperate seller.

A fixer is someone who is looking to make a profit by making the property more attractive. By making it more attractive, they are able to sell for more money. There is both an art and a science to fixing, so that you don't spend more than you make. Fixers typically sell when the renovations are done, although many will wait for a full year to gain better tax treatment. They do not typically rent the property out, although they may live in it while it's being renovated.

An investor has the idea of buying and holding for a certain period of time, usually leveraging rent to make the payments, sometimes breaking even, preferably with positive cash flow, usually while eventually hoping to cash in on capital appreciation, but always holding for periods that start at two years and go up from there.

Now I've heard a lot of folks who are really fixers call themselves flippers, but I've never heard a flipper call themselves a fixer. Why? Because the general perception admires flippers more, because they theoretically make money by their wits instead of by the sweat of their brows. It's more status to call yourself a flipper, although why people think it's better to tell people they make their living by shorting people who really have no choice, instead of by actually creating value by improving the properties they purchase, is beyond me. But due to the huge long swell of the last seller's market, many people got addicted to the fact that it enabled people who didn't really know what they were doing to buy properties for too much money, and six months later sell for a profit despite not having done anything to improve the property.

Right now, the local market is able to support flipping again. However, more than one flipper lost their shirt in the downturn. Indeed, I know of a couple of properties out there on the market that went through more than one sale from desperate flipper to optimistic flipper, and then the optimistic flipper gets desperate and sells to another optimist. With those values having stabilized, fixers who know what they're doing are doing well again, although the market has changed how best to make a profit. It's no longer a gamble as to whether fixing will yield a profit after expenses in the usual fixer's time frame, but the margins are both thinner and lower. There are quite a few out there that are suitable, and many more that are not.

Investors pretty much always do well, mostly because they're not subject to time limitations. If market conditions aren't right to sell, they keep the property until market conditions are right. When there are a lot of desperate sellers out there, and so long as investors have got positive cash flow in a sustainable situation, all they've got to do is wait for the market to move in their favor. Until then, they are making money every month. Real investors never turn into desperate sellers, because they always have the option of hanging on to it. It might not be their most preferred option, but it is there.

I love working with fixers. It's a lot more work to find suitable properties right now, but that's fine. And, of course, families who buy for a personal residence in the current market (despite the very frustrating frenzy) will do very well in the longer term.

Caveat Emptor

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