What is the biggest beginner's mistake?

[Lady Flipper]

Yeah, but if you do any high end flips you need to put in new stuff even if they just tear it out again.

You may put in granite just to have them tear it out to put in marble. But without the granite these buyers wouldn't even consider it, they are into status symbols.

In that case you even get rid of all the furniture and buy/rent new stuff just to throw it out again when sold. If there is no furniture, you put some in to show off the rooms. They can look much bigger with furniture than without.

It's all about knowing who your buyer is... some will pay a lot of money when they think they are buying a high end home. And for them you need to make it look and feel like one even if it's a total waste of money for all. It can jack up your price enormously.

I have always loved doing rotten houses in nice neighborhoods. The more rotten the house and the nicer the neighborhood, the better.

Back in the day I looked at the obits and if someone lived in a very nice neighborhood I'd check on the house, sometimes older people let them go run down and they can be gold mines.

[alexfardreamer@aol.com]

It's all a matter of psychology. The people who really go overboard on the remodeling for the sake of selling sometimes do think buyers will like and keep the renovations. And sometimes it does happen. Just not often enough, I think.

[bartongrl1]

I would suppose that the main thing is to have done the flip and made the profit that was wanted.

But going really far with the flip, to me, is not necessairly necessary. But to each his own.

[alexfardreamer@aol.com]

I've always thought that the best thing to do is focus on real problems, such as structural integrity, roof and foundation issues, wiring, basic paint job, and simplicity overall. "Investing" a lot of money on things the new owners will more than likely discard is throwing that money away.

[lily]

There is so much good info in this thread. I'm glad I found it. As a beginner with this it is good to get an idea of where you can go wrong.