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Real Estate Flipping Tips: Renovating 101

If you’re interested in flipping homes, chances are you’ve read a ton of real estate flipping tips and learned the best ways to increase your property value. One great way to add thousands of dollars onto the property value of a home is to make major renovations. However, you’ll want to be absolutely certain that you can make money on the project. In fact, some renovations may even cause you to lose money in the long run. Before you renovate a property, read these real estate flipping tips to make sure you’re making the right decision:

• Finished basements and attics. One of the easiest ways to add square footage and increase the property value of a home you’re flipping is to finish the attic or basement and turn it into living space. Whether the space becomes an extra bedroom or a “bonus room,” this is a massive undertaking and may even require making some structural changes.
• Adding a room. Another way to get more square footage is to add an entirely new room to the home, extending it further to the side or back. Adding a room is an even larger project than finishing an existing space within the home. Think twice before you add on a room – while it may help a one-bedroom home sell to convert it into a two-bedroom, it may not help with larger homes.
• Open it up. Real estate flipping tips will often mention making the home look large and airy by using paint and light. However, if the home is dark and crowded, these visual tricks may not be enough. One way to make a home seem more open is to literally open it up – by knocking down a few walls. Before you get started, you’ll want to work with a contractor to make sure you’re not tearing down load-bearing walls that are vital to the structure of the home.
• Keep up with the neighbors. Before you make any major renovations, especially ones that add square footage, make sure you take a look at other homes in the neighborhood. If you’re making the home too large or too expensive compared to the other homes in the area, you risk not selling the home or losing money on your flip.

Major renovations can help improve the property value of a home – but can also make it impossible to sell. Make sure you do your homework before you proceed with large project. Having a budget can help you ensure that you’ll recoup all your money from the flip and make the entirely process easier.