bubbleinfo.com

Another round of postponements today, but hopefully this youtube will keep you in the hunt: 

A tour of the recent flippers around Carlsbad, +1:

We already know that flippers are flooding the streets in search of profits, so it’s inevitable that we’ll see them competing…..with each other! Don’t be surprised if we see surges of new listings, especially around recent high sales – here’s a youtube video:

Tom Tarrant is a San Diegan who moved to San Antonio to remodel and sell historic houses while waiting out the California Real Estate Collapse.  He has a great blog with videos about the details of home remodeling, selling flippers, and snippets about Texas!

I asked Tom about featuring him here, and how it all came together. He responded, “There were alot of California investors flipping and parking cash here in rentals in 2007-2008. I think Bruce Norris was writing about moving your money to Texas around that time. The local realtors had a hayday selling multiple properties to them so it was a mini bubble in its own way. Now its slowed down a bit, but all in all SA’s managed to escape most of the national housing mess. Most of the California investors are now gone or it seems cashing out to move their money back but thats o.k. with us as there is less competition on the fixer uppers.”

A link to his blog (scroll down to the beginning):

Tom Tarrant – Adventures in House Flipping

An excerpt, with links to two of his videos:

The Hat Trick House is finally done and officially on the market and in MLS. We’ve had a swarm of buyers throughout the rehab and 3 great offers before it was even finished. We went 9% over budget but luckily our estimated sales price is surprisingly up 25% due to market conditions! Our list price is $359,000, this will be the highest sale in our area and set a new high comp if it sells for that price. My wife and I staged the house and it’s all ready for an advertised open house this Saturday. We already had one showing today, one scheduled for tomorrow morning and an agent that sold another one of our properties (The Abandonded House) just called and her “picky” client found it today on Realtor.com and wants to see it. The agent from our first showing today said the master bedroom closet alone would sell the house. Really?

The bank may be exempt from disclosure and is selling “as-is”, but the flippers and agents are obligated to disclose all known defects. 

Flipper paid $945,000 on 11/18/09 at the ’steps, and re-listed for $1,395,000 to $1,495,000:

From the wsj.com – hat tip AL and MB!

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Four years after the collapse of the U.S. housing bubble, flipping homes is back in fashion.

Jon Mirmelli, a Phoenix real-estate investor, learned late in the morning of Sept. 28 that a never-occupied custom house on the northern fringes of this Phoenix suburb was going up for auction around noon the same day. The six-bedroom home, built on a three-acre desert plot, has a kitchen with two dishwashers, four ovens, “antibacterial” copper sinks, and a master “spa” bathroom with space for a flat-screen TV visible from the tub.
 
The minimum bid, as set by a unit of Citigroup Inc., which had a $1.3 million mortgage on the home, was $379,900. After several minutes of bidding among investors and their representatives, some wearing shorts and flip-flops, Mr. Mirmelli won the home for $486,300. A week later, he agreed to sell it for $690,000 to a woman who moved in this month.
 
During the housing boom, millions of Americans tried to make money by buying and then quickly reselling new houses and condominiums. That kind of flipping stopped several years ago as home sales stalled amid a surge in foreclosures and curtailed lending.
 
Now, a different breed of flipper is proliferating: one who seeks bargains at foreclosure auctions. Unlike the boom-time flippers, the latest generation needs cold cash, lots of local-market knowledge and strong nerves.

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Back in September we featured the same floor plan a block down the street - it listed for $144,900, and was purchased for $177,000 by flippers.

They have since put it back on the market for $277,000 and found a buyer within 27 days – it’s now pending: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWqFEvlB4BA

Two weeks ago this one hit the open market:

Here’s a flipper who was foiled in the act.

A realtor had listed this house in June, noting that it was a short-sale flip in progress. They had arranged (conspired) with the seller to submit to the existing lender a short sale package at a lower price, and then listed it on the MLS for $598,321 before the short sale was approved – intending to pocket the difference.

Instead, the bank foreclosed on them:

Adam has been gracious in sharing his time and experience about buying at the court house steps, and flipping properties for profit, the least we can do is keep an eye out for him.

It’ll be easy to dismiss this one because of location, but this is where you’ll see the first signs of flips turning to flops – with the outliers: