Think Like a Realtor – Our Secrets to Selling Flips Fast!

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Think Like a Realtor – Our Secrets to Selling Flips Fast!

July 22, 2015

By Tarek El Moussa

A lot of people ask me how Christina and I sell our flips so fast. We sell the majority of our houses just days after we first show them, and they want to know how we get so lucky. Well, you could call us lucky, but really we’re just very experienced realtors with a few trade secrets on our side. If you use these tips, you’ll notice your flip houses selling faster, too. The real estate business is all about making the sale, and here’s how you can do it fast.

Don’t Go Overboard on Rehabs

This one is big, and it’s one we’ve fallen victim to in our adventures in house flipping, too. Christina and I love improving rundown houses. We love bringing them up to date and giving them new life to get homebuyers really excited. But we have to rein in the desire to make everything perfect sometimes.

It’s easy to get caught up in turning a house into your personal dream house and putting a lot of your own personality into it. Don’t do it! Calculate your ARV (after-repair value) and base all of your work on bringing the property up to that price.

At the same time, look around the neighborhood. Your goal should be to create a house that fits in with the neighbors and is attractive to someone buying in that market. No one wants to buy a $500,000 house in a $300,000 neighborhood. Believe me; we had to learn this one the hard way.

Hire Professional Stagers to Do the Job Right

After you’ve made all of your improvements, you can see how great the property is, but your potential buyers might need a little bit of help. Staging the house yourself is a lot of work and involves renting furniture and décor. We don’t recommend doing this. Instead, bring in the professionals. They know how to add furnishings and decorations that will allow people to see themselves living in your flip houses.

Don’t Price Yourself Out of the Market

Now, this is one I’ve been guilty of before, too. When you’re flipping, you want to do more than break even, but if you price your house too high, it’s going to sit on the market a lot longer. You might think that you’re leaving room to negotiate with buyers, but you’re really discouraging them from making a bid in the first place.

In my experience, if you go much above the average market value in the area, even if you’ve done a lot of renovations and rehab, you’re going to slow down your sale. If your house sits on the market too long, the sale goes stale, and you will have to lower the price. Once you’ve lowered it once, it’s not uncommon to lower it again to try to get buyers’ attention. Before you know it, you’re selling at a much lower price after having your capital tied up in it for weeks or months. It’s always better to get cash in hand now instead of later.

Talk With Potential Buyers about What They Want and How You Can Make It Happen

Finally, be a little bit flexible. When you’re showing flip houses, if you have reticent buyers, ask them what you can do to get them to make an offer. It may be as simple as making a small update or knocking off a couple of thousand dollars.

If you approach the real estate business like a realtor with these tips, you’ll sell your properties a lot faster.

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Tarek El Moussa

Tarek and Christina El Moussa have over a decade of professional real estate experience and have been featured in national print publications, online media outlets, and a popular real estate TV show. Tarek is known for his determination to get the job done and doing it right.