6 Issues to Look For When Buying a House from a House Flipper

6 Issues to Look For When Buying a House from a House Flipper

Investors in residential house flipping have made a big come back the last few years. Much of the popularity of this can be attributed to the many TV shows dedicated to renovation, repair, investment and flipping. I’ve written on this topic before (see post HERE). However, I did not focus on the other side of the transaction, the end buyer. There is risk that buyers of this type of property should be aware of and look for. These issues were prevalent in the foreclosure crisis and the bursting of the housing bubble in 2008-10. This is not to say that investors haven’t learned their lesson. But, some people are dishonest and greedy. Pay attention to these 6 potential risks.

1. Financing – yours and your seller’s. Make sure that you are solely responsible for selecting your lender, completing your loan application and providing the lender with all requested documentation. The foreclosure crisis was caused, in part, by unscrupulous investors who falsified buyers’ loan applications without buyers’ knowledge, thus committing mortgage fraud. Also, look at the seller’s existing mortgage. This will show on your title commitment/report. Is it in the same name as the entity selling you the property? Is there only one mortgage? Is the mortgage for less than the purchase price? Any of these can be indicators of an earlier fraud. If you are paying cash, get an appraisal to assure that you aren’t over paying.
2. Title – Review the title commitment carefully. Make sure that the seller owns the property. Look at the 24-month chain of title. Has there been an unusual amount of conveyances prior to the conveyance to the seller? Has the seller made other conveyances prior to your closing? Have all prior mortgages been satisfied? Do not allow the seller or the seller’s title company handling the title for you to close without allowing you AND your attorney to review before closing.
3. Seasoning – Some Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA loans prohibit the sale of a property for a period of time (60-180 days) following the date of the mortgage. This would be in the seller’s existing mortgage. Make sure that all such provisions have expired.
4. Redemption Rights – if seller purchased the property at foreclosure, make sure prior owners’ right of redemption has expired. In Florida, the right of redemption expires on sale, so if a certificate of title has been issued, there is no right of redemption.
5. Permitting – make sure that all improvements made by the seller have been properly permitted and all permits have been properly closed and certificates of occupancy issued. This holds true for improvements made by prior owners.
6. Other Issues Regarding Improvements – Inspect, inspect, inspect. Make sure all of seller’s improvements and repairs have been properly made. Although this goes with number 5 above, just because the work has been permitted and a certificate of occupancy issued (hopefully), you should assure the quality of the work. Warranties should be assigned and where possible, get warranties from the seller.

If all house flippers were like the ones on TV, none of this would be necessary and every house bought from a flipper would look like a celebrity’s mansion. But that is not the case. There are many good, even great flippers. But there are many poor and dishonest ones as well. Beware.