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A lot of lower-end housing spends some years in the hands of people who can’t afford to keep up maintenance, and/or are too old to keep up with it well (… or to

A lot of lower-end housing spends some years in the hands of people who can’t afford to keep up maintenance, and/or are too old to keep up with it well (… or to keep up with cleaning). As a result, it’s all but ruined by the time someone else gets a crack at it.

stego-tech 11mo ago
Yep, and a lifetime spent moving every few years (and my obsession for details and desire to understand how everything works) means that I can see the chasm between what properties are actually worth versus what folks are asking for. I’ve seen some really pricey nightmares these past several years ($650k for a 1400sqft home with knob-and-tube electrical wiring and an honest-to-god fire bucket in the basement next to the oil heater!), and I cannot afford to take such extreme risks on the most expensive purchase I’ll likely ever make in my life. It sucks.
tayo42 11mo ago
People get pissy about flippers but there is some scary stuff out there I don't think anyone really wants to deal with
- dashundchen 11mo ago
  A lot of flippers aren't dealing with scary stuff like foundations or structure, that's risky and expensive. It's cheap to throw up some new drywall and vinyl floors to make it look renovated though.
- stego-tech 11mo ago
  We developed nicknames for bad flip jobs after viewing so many: “Spray Foam Specials” - gobs of sprayfoam insulation and a fresh coat of paint. “Gap Properties” - because who needs floorboards to actually meet? “Skatepark Schemes” - for when the floors are so bowed you can do lip tricks at the room edges “Flashpoint Fixers” - surface-level flip jobs that kept the knob-and-tube wiring alongside newer Romex “Oil Derricks” - any home with an oil tank on a foundation of compacted earth or otherwise lacking a groundwater barrier
  - kubectl_h 11mo ago
    I wish I could set up a filter in Zillow that automatically excluded homes that have gray engineered flooring, which flippers seem to love for some reason.

stego-tech 11mo ago

Yep, and a lifetime spent moving every few years (and my obsession for details and desire to understand how everything works) means that I can see the chasm between what properties are actually worth versus what folks are asking for. I’ve seen some really pricey nightmares these past several years ($650k for a 1400sqft home with knob-and-tube electrical wiring and an honest-to-god fire bucket in the basement next to the oil heater!), and I cannot afford to take such extreme risks on the most expensive purchase I’ll likely ever make in my life. It sucks.

tayo42 11mo ago

People get pissy about flippers but there is some scary stuff out there I don't think anyone really wants to deal with

dashundchen 11mo ago
A lot of flippers aren't dealing with scary stuff like foundations or structure, that's risky and expensive. It's cheap to throw up some new drywall and vinyl floors to make it look renovated though.
stego-tech 11mo ago
We developed nicknames for bad flip jobs after viewing so many: “Spray Foam Specials” - gobs of sprayfoam insulation and a fresh coat of paint. “Gap Properties” - because who needs floorboards to actually meet? “Skatepark Schemes” - for when the floors are so bowed you can do lip tricks at the room edges “Flashpoint Fixers” - surface-level flip jobs that kept the knob-and-tube wiring alongside newer Romex “Oil Derricks” - any home with an oil tank on a foundation of compacted earth or otherwise lacking a groundwater barrier
- kubectl_h 11mo ago
  I wish I could set up a filter in Zillow that automatically excluded homes that have gray engineered flooring, which flippers seem to love for some reason.