My last post about this property generated a couple of comments so I thought I'd give an update.
Despite all of my outrage about the offer for 150K, my clients ran out of time and had to take it. It wasn't the outcome that I wanted for them but they needed the money. (A quick refresher: they were selling the house to fund an elderly Aunt's stay in a home.)
The deal closed in the beginning of April and I've been consumed with work. I hadn't thought about the property a lot.
Interestingly, when I was showing property on Saturday, I ran across Illinois Ave. again. Yep..the company that bought it is in the process of renovating and flipping it. It'll be available in June for $374,955.
You might have read about Express Homebuyers in the City Paper's Blog Housing Complex in April. This is the company that's listing Illinois Ave. It's not in the MLS yet. They are advertising the house in their weekly emails and flyers of current listings.
All is have to say is "hmmmmm." I can't decide how I feel about this. On one hand, good for Express Homebuyers. They're following their business plan and it's working. On the other hand, uf. I feel for my former clients. I wish they had more time to get a better price for the house. ESPECIALLY after seeing proposed listing price. Oh well. It's over now. But hmmmmmmmmmmm.
4 comments:
Thanks for your post. We are always happy to clarify our business.
Couple of things. First, it’s easy to take the hard numbers at the beginning and end of a transaction and question the spread and the profit – particularly if one wants to question the profit makers. It is true Express Homebuyers purchased the Illinois Avenue property shown here for $150,000, a price we determined after investigating the overall condition of the property, and what it would take to renovate it to our standards—which are top-of-the-market.
In terms of this property, we judged the total cost to renovate it to our standards could be well over $125 to $150 thousand dollars. Just this alone would justify a price equal to similar properties in the neighborhood. Atop our costs of renovation we have to add marketing, listing, commission for agents and a host of other small costs that whittle away the remaining margin. Additionally, the $374,955 is the asking price. It would be ideal if it sells for that, but like all other properties, our listed price survives or dies at the very real hands of the market.
Secondly, we don’t necessarily favor the term “flipping” when it comes to our work. House flippers notoriously buy properties cheap, perform minimal—if any–repair, and try to sell the property as quickly as they can. Our mission remains to add value to all the properties we sell and, in the process, help the individuals who need to sell their properties get a quick solution.
- Harold, Express Homebuyers
Personally, I have never heard anything positive about Express. They may claim they put in $125,000 to renovate this property, but I'd be shocked if it were more than $50,000. From my experience they do shoddy, purely cosmetic work.
My bet is that this house looks nice, but has some serious flaws from their poor craftsmanship.
agreed. their projects are awful. i would highly recommend against on wasting your money on anything express touches
It's easy to post comments as Anonymous and bash others. I have seen their work first hand and have always been impressed.
And this is coming from someone who is in the same business they are.
My hats off to Brad and the Express guys for helping to do away with the negativity that comes with the term "flipping" houses.
And I'm not sure how you could be mad at a business like ours or Express for doing what we do. It's not our fault people are in the situation they are in. If anything we help them by helping them move on.
I always find it hard to take any comments seriously from people who are too scared to post even their name.
Just my $.02!
Dan
HelpfulInvesting.com
Post a Comment