House flipping

Kez1357

Hi. Iv seen a house I like and put a offer in. Solicitor has picked up the seller has only owned the house for 3 months and bought it cheap to renovate & flip. 

It still needs quite a bit of work to finish it off but there asking double the price what they paid for it 3 months ago. 

It’s in a popular area and priced fairly, should i be put off ? 

Thanks 

flashg67

Are you needing a mortgage, as I understand you may struggle if the seller hasn't owned the house for 6 months +
Value wise, is it comparable with similar local properties?

london21

It depends on the price and location when you say double do you mean bought for £250k selling for £500k?

Is the property registered on the land registry?

Some lenders only lend after property has been owned for over 6 months. 

hazyjo

What work have they actually done? Or have they just made it mortgageable now?

For something to have sold for 50% less than its usual value only 3 months ago, it must have been in a shocking state! Unless they bought it at auction?

What still needs doing?

Do you need a mortgage?

Have a search for old details and compare.


That's extremely rare to buy that cheap and flip that quick. Doubt I'd buy unless an awful lot had been done, and proven, and had guarantees.

hazyjo

PS wouldn't worry too much about the 6 month rule as it'll be around that, or could easily be dragged out to that, by the time you reached completion.

Kez1357

Thanks for the reply’s :-) 
house was purchased for 85k and now up at 145k. 

Yes I think they have made it mortgageable. It still needs around 20k spending on it to bring it up to standard.(new bathroom / kitchen/ double glazing etc) 
same houses in the area are fetching 160-170k (but very rear come up for sale and when they do they go instantly. 
Yes, it’s registered on land registry &
It’s freehold 

thanks  

FreeBear

What is the quality of the work done so far ?

If it is a litarny of bodge jobs, it will need ripping out and done properly from scratch. You will want a thorough and detailed survey unless you are an expert in spotting questionable work.

hazyjo

Do you know why they stopped mid-flip?

That would be worrying me. Did they discover something nasty? Run out of money? Decided merely to make it mortgageable and sell (not sure how it could double in price though). 

They've not even done the big things like kitchen, bathroom, windows, etc!

What have they done? What's the roof like?

deannagone

How popular do you think the house is?  I'd be assuming bodge jobs and get that price down. 

To be honest, having rented a house full off hidden bodge jobs (flat roof that had been recovered twice, that fell in while i was living there, faulty plumbing, old boiler, cardboard literally in the walls, plastered over, the electrics were unbelievable, something strange had been done to the gas supply in the kitchen so sometimes it would take me an hour plus to boil potatoes).  None of these faults were easily detected on just viewing the place. 

I'd be even more suspicious as the house hasn't been fully renovated.  I'd be asking why?  Is there a problem they couldn't afford to deal with that you would have to?

Oh and check the attic.., the EPC for the property mentioned said there was insulation in the roof.., there was, over one room.  The rest was left bare. It was so cold my children couldn't sleep in their rooms til I insulated the roof properly. I can only assume the owners made a donation to the assessors.

Living there was quite a learning experience. But on viewing, I didn't have a clue.  I'm pretty sure a surveyor wouldn't have picked up most of the problems either.

HampshireH

Wow it's double in price and still needs a kitchen, bathroom and new windows (£20k seems a cheap estimate for these unless you are fitting k&b yourself)?

Presumably they are all functioning and can be lived in/used. Which begs the question what have they done .....structural works?

getmore4less

As well as what has been done and what standard.

What was the background to the previous sale.

Cheap for a reason, 
Cash only looks to be one,
Maybe a quick probate job
Connected parties

Is the previous listing still around?.