During the U.S. housing boom, even amateur investors could buy and sell a property within a couple of months and turn a profit. Today there’s nothing amateur about house flipping.
Homes with punctured walls and missing appliances draw multiple offers from professional investors at auctions in foreclosure-ridden states.
Competition is so stiff that experienced flippers such as Sergio Rodriguez and Brian Bogenn look back with nostalgia at last year, when they turned over 48 residences in the Phoenix area.
“A year ago, bums outnumbered bidders at the courthouse steps,” where many foreclosure auctions take place, Rod riguez said. “Now the bums are way outnumbered.”
Nationally, flipped homes gained 19 percent to 197,784 in 2009.
Sales could get a lift from the Federal Housing Authority’s one-year waiver of anti-flipping rules that took effect Feb. 1, allowing FHA borrowers to acquire foreclosed homes from owners who have held title for less than 90 days. That gives first-time buyers a shot at investor-renovated homes, said Vicki Bott, a deputy assistant secretary at the Department of Housing and Urban Development in Washington.
