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The Flip House — The Final Chapter (It Sold!)

Y’all, the flip house next door has sold! And the best part is that it was actually sold to people who are going to live in the house. That means that they have a vested interest in that house beyond just dollar signs. They’ll actually care about the house and the neighborhood.

And that also means that from this point on, the design choices they make for that house is none of my business. As long as the house was in the hands of a house flipper (and one who seemed crazy and greedy, in my humble opinion), I felt free to express my critical opinions. But just like I would never tell y’all about the projects (or lack thereof) that any of my other neighbors are doing (or aren’t doing) on their homes, or give my public opinion about those projects (or lack thereof), this will be my final say on the flip house.

But I couldn’t leave y’all hanging. After sharing about that house in previous posts (here and here), I had to let you know that it sold…finally. I went over and met my new neighbors a few days ago, and they seem like very kind, friendly, easy-going people, so I’m very thankful for neighbors like that.

Obviously, I had to ask them about that kitchen, though. And almost in unison, they said, “Oh, the kitchen is horrible!” 😀 So they do have plans at some point to redo the kitchen. Until they’re ready to tackle a kitchen remodel, they’ll obviously just live with it as is.

I can totally relate to having to live with a very inefficient kitchen. Do y’all remember what our kitchen looked like when we moved into our house nine years ago? If you’ve forgotten, let me refresh your memory.

Yeah…our kitchen wasn’t just inefficient. It was also very old and dingy. And thank goodness, it looks nothing like that today. (If you’re new here, you can see the most recent whole-house, before-and-after tour here, here, and here.)

And yet, we had to use that kitchen for several months before I started the kitchen remodel. So I know how it is to have an inefficient kitchen that hasn’t quite made it to the top of the priority list yet. But if I remember correctly, my new neighbors did say that they’ve already had plans drawn up for a new kitchen. So they’ll have that to look forward to in the future.

I did want to pass on one thing that they told me because I feel like it’s something that happens often, and home buyers need to be aware of this, especially when buying from a house flipper who just wants to do a quick turnaround and is in it for the cash.

They said that the highest priority for them (and the deal breaker for them buying the house) was that the electrical wiring had to be redone in the whole house. This was non-negotiable for them.

What the flipper had done was change out all of the old two-prong outlets for updated three-prong outlets, but the flipper did that without actually updating any of the wiring in the house. So the whole house still had all of the old wiring (i.e., the kind that has only two wires — hot and neutral — with no ground wire), while simply swapping out the outlets, making it look like the electrical wiring had been updated.

I think that is actually much more common than people think, and if a flipper is only in it for a quick turnaround and as much cash as they can pocket, electrical is definitely going to be one of the areas where they’ll cut corners. After all, electricians aren’t cheap, and rewiring a whole house is a huge job.

Thank goodness my new neighbors had the house inspected before they bought it and provided a copy of that inspection to the seller (or seller’s agent) so that they could have the seller fix it. And at that point, the seller really had no option but to fix it, because if they had refused to fix it, they would be required to disclose that information to the next potential buyer. So they’d eventually have to fix it anyway. There was no need to kick that can down the road.

So this brings the whole flip house saga to and end. This is the final chapter. The house is finally out of the hands of a crazy flipper who obviously wanted to do a quick flip, cut corners, and pocket a ridiculous amount of money, and into the good hands of owners who actually care about the house and the neighborhood (and thankfully, didn’t buy it a year ago and pay the flipper’s original insane price of $450,000). It’s a happy ending.

(And please never buy a house without having it inspected!! Even if you plan to completely gut and remodel the whole thing, get it inspected and know what you’re walking into.)

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16 Comments

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  • Reply To This Comment ↓
    Carla from Kansas
    October 21, 2022 at 11:14 am

    So glad they made the flipper update the wiring.

  • Reply To This Comment ↓
    Juanita
    October 21, 2022 at 11:15 am

    Within seconds of opening my email browser, up pops this post. (For ONCE, I’m actually here and not a day behind, due to long work hours)

    Oh, happy day that the house has been purchased. Here’s to many good years as neighbors, while they invest in a home that will make them as happy as yours is to you.

  • Reply To This Comment ↓
    Jennifer
    October 21, 2022 at 11:18 am

    Agreed on home inspection, and get copies of permits! When looking for our own home we looked into some questionable fixes, including an extension cord stuffed through a hole in the wall and out the other side as an “outlet”. Our realter was kind enough to look into the basement remodel and surprise! No permits at all.

    Even if you are on a tight budget it is cheaper to find a big issue during inspection and negotiate than to find it after moving in and make emergency repairs.

  • Reply To This Comment ↓
    Fran
    October 21, 2022 at 11:55 am

    Do you know what they ended up paying?

  • Reply To This Comment ↓
    Joan Hornung
    October 21, 2022 at 12:38 pm

    Well, it is wonderful to have new neighbors and the flippers GONE! I certainly hope they are NOT doing the new wiring, but just had to cover the cost of a real electrician. I would NEVER trust them especially seeing the work they did. Yes, thank heavens for real inspectors. Here in Florida the building is SO crazy now, that many laborers are not really skilled, and my husband who was an electrician is VERY disappointed in the work done. We could never trust them to build. We bought a pre-construction condo once as an investment and when I plugged the vacuum in the lights all dulled and flickered. We knew then the work isn’t great. UGH Such an important part of the safety of the home! Meanwhile, thank you for the update, and I had to smile about their comment about the kitchen. What dumbbells those flippers were!

  • Reply To This Comment ↓
    Adele
    October 21, 2022 at 12:48 pm

    I concur that the new owners’ choices are no longer yours to comment on or show to us. However… if they invite you to see the remodel AND if you think they did a great job AND if they agree to let you take and post photos, I, for one, would love to see what they did to change a sow’s ear into a silk purse. I’d advise either turning all comments off for that post or forcing them to go to moderation, though.

    When I was house hunting 30 years ago, pre-flipper era, I went into a number of houses in which the owners had done a fast and cheap-as-possible remodel of the kitchen, obviously very recent, and each in the listing as “newly remodeled kitchen.” I would have preferred the original kitchen with a lower price to reflect that. That’s what I ended up with, and MY remodel has served me well and held up great for 28 years.

    • Reply To This Comment ↓
      Sue2
      October 21, 2022 at 8:25 pm

      I agree with you, Adele. No longer anybody’s business, but hope they will be great neighbors!

  • Reply To This Comment ↓
    CathyR
    October 21, 2022 at 1:06 pm

    I had another dream about the home that was in our family 70 years. First time since 1951 it has had a non family owner! In the dream they were “putting lipstick on a pig” and I was horrified and planned to report them🤯🤣😂. Of course it was one of those crazy dreams and I’ll likely never know what they’ve done to it. So in my mind it’ll eventually have an owner like your neighbors who will love the house and do the right thing by it😉

  • Reply To This Comment ↓
    Brenda
    October 21, 2022 at 2:12 pm

    Oh wow, if I lived next door to you, Kristi, I’d be asking your opinion on my house too much! You’d have to charge me a consulting fee!

  • Reply To This Comment ↓
    Mrs Mike
    October 21, 2022 at 2:15 pm

    My dad is a contractor who did many, many, MANY renovations to my childhood home growing up. He always pulled permits and kept them in an envelope stapled to the wall of the water heater closet (no clue why!!). When it came time to sell the home, the first buyer thought he was going to “make” us pay for a bunch of renovations he wanted, assuming that there were no permits (we had massive changes – like an indoor atrium turned into a sunken family room with a massive skylight!) My dad handed the inspector all the permits, in chronological order, and he confirmed everything was done properly and any changes the buyer wanted would be at his expense. Needless to say, he passed on putting in an offer. I’m glad your new neighbors seem nice and are at least getting a home that will be wired properly for current standards.

  • Reply To This Comment ↓
    Laura
    October 21, 2022 at 2:36 pm

    I hope your new neighbors are as kind and caring as you and Matt are. That would be a blessing!

  • Reply To This Comment ↓
    Marianne in Mo.
    October 21, 2022 at 3:33 pm

    I hope the electrical has to be done by a licensed electrician, and not the flippers!!! But I am glad for your sake that the new owners are going to occupy the house, and not rent it out. That was why we ended up moving from our home of 27 years, after we had finally remodeled and added on to it to give us more space. (We had dreamed all that time, but could never afford a big change while raising our kids!) Seemed like many homes on our street were being bought and rented out, and we had a couple of drug busts in them. So we decided to get out before things got worse. I still keep in touch with a longtime neighbor who still lives there, and she said the rental owners have all sold to live-in owners, so it never got bad. She is surrounded by young people and families, so I guess we moved too soon. Oh well, we’ve been happy, because most of our friends had moved away before we did!

  • Reply To This Comment ↓
    Janette
    October 24, 2022 at 7:24 am

    The thing I notice on those television flip shows is that the electric and roofs are rarely mentioned as being updated. Those are the major two items that most rundown fixer-uppers are in need of. Yes – buyer beware.

    • Reply To This Comment ↓
      Kristi Linauer
      October 24, 2022 at 8:52 am

      And plumbing. Most old houses (at least around this area) have galvanized steel plumbing that corrodes on the inside and then releases metals into the water, clay sewer lines that are almost assuredly cracked by now with roots invading them, etc. All of that should be replaced with PVC and PEX. I would say the three things that will eat through a fixer-upper budget very quickly are (1) roof, (2) electrical, and (3) plumbing.

  • Reply To This Comment ↓
    Jackie
    October 24, 2022 at 9:10 am

    Now I’m daydreaming about having you as a neighbor 🙂