Everything you need to know before you flip a home

You’ve watched countless episodes of Dave and Kortney Wilson on HGTV Canada’s Masters of Flip, renovating homes and making money, and you think you have what it takes to flip a home yourself. Flipping houses might look like it’s all fun and profit on TV, but it is definitely not for the faint of heart. Dave and Kortney are coming to The Winnipeg Home and Garden show April 6th and 7th to offer up their house flipping tips and give advice at the Urban Barn Main Stage on how anyone can improve the value of their home — whether they’re an aspiring flipper or not!

Pick Your Business Partner(s) Wisely

You’ll spend several months juggling tradespeople, budgeting, managing a work site, and making hundreds of decisions with someone; you’d better pick them wisely. The Wilson’s best tip for picking a business partner? “It has to be someone you trust absolutely. You can’t make it work unless you trust each other,” says Dave.

Know Why You Want To Flip A House

Are you flipping a home as a business venture or as a way to hone your building skills, spend time with your partner, and have something to keep busy with? Or are you getting into flipping homes to make money? “If time really is money, you really shouldn’t do everything yourself. The market can change so dramatically and really affect your profit,” says Kortney. “For us, we need money to put shoes on our kids’ feet through house flipping. Our goals were to make money and have fun doing it, but to us, this is our business.” The longer things take, the more you’ll end up paying in mortgage and utilities. Sorting out your motivation behind begging to flip will help you prioritize tasks and set a timeline.

Be Realistic

Two of the biggest enemies of a profitable house flip is a lagging timeline and a busted budget. Being realistic about how much things can cost and how long they’ll take is key to not being blindsided by additional costs and contractor delays. “Being realistic about your goals is really key. Most time we speak to first-time house flippers, they have the same first-time woes: it ends up taking longer than they thought and they think they can do everything themselves.”  Dave says one of his biggest misconceptions when getting into the business was thinking he can do it quicker than he can and that for less money than he can. His advice is to “imagine the worst case scenario and add 20%.”

Get The Location Right

Don’t be tempted by attractive pricing in a less desirable neighbourhood. “The worst house in the best neighbourhood is key, especially for first-time house flippers and location always wins,” says Kortney. While rookie flippers might feel like they can’t afford a decent home in a really great neighbourhood or that their work will be enough to draw a customer to an area with a lower value, Kortney cautions against it. “At the end of the day, location is really important to buyers. Stellar work and really amazing finishes in a neighbourhood that can’t withstand the price point [you need to be profitable], doesn’t mean anything at the end of the day.”

Do Your Research

You’ve realized you can’t do everything yourself and need some hired help. Great! Now, where do you start? And how do you manage a jobsite? “A great general contractor — even if you are handy and know a lot about construction — isn’t comparable to having someone who has a team of tradespeople they’ve worked with for years and years,” says Dave. Don’t just entrust that guy on your hockey team or a friend of a friend’s friend, but do your due diligence to research and get multiple references for anyone you’re hiring. “Make sure they have a good relationship with code too,” adds Kortney. “It’s great to really like people, but make sure they’re on the up and up. Nice people can still do bad work that costs you a lot of money.”

Want more tips from Kortney and Dave? See them live at the Winnipeg Home + Garden show, get your tickets HERE and save!