FORT WORTH, Texas -- It was straight out of the 1960s -- an outdated,
three-bedroom home with heavy paneling, a small galley kitchen and a
complicated entrance that forced visitors up two flights of stairs before they
could get to the front door.
Now, after $70,000 in renovations, Jeff Woodhouse and Bryan Buntyn think it
will be their latest success story.
The pair, who own MetroTone Remodeling and Makeovers of Keller, Texas, are
house-flippers -- buying low, working quickly and, hopefully, selling for a
profit.
And rather than being deterred by the unstable housing market, they see the
surge in foreclosures and drop in interest rates as signs of deals to be made.
"A lot of people think that when times are tough, that's the time to
run," Woodhouse said. "We see opportunity."
Despite the slump in home sales, investors say their area is still ripe for
house-flipping. The key is buying the home at a bare-minimum price so that,
even with the expense of remodeling, it can be sold for a clear profit.
And if all else fails, there's always the booming rental market in North
Texas, said John Hayes, president and chief executive of Dallas-based
HomeVestors. Hayes said his company doesn't use the term "flip," but
he said it sold more franchises in 2007 than in 2006. This week, he plans to
close on a $120,000 home with a 30-year mortgage at a 6.2 percent interest
rate. He figures he can rent it out for $1,200 a month, netting about $350 a
month in income.
"I'm not doing this because I'm the president of HomeVestors," he
said. "You can do this, too."
The latest effort by Woodhouse and Buntyn is in a popular neighborhood of
Arlington, Texas.
After six weeks of work, the 2,930-square-foot home went on the market last
week for $259,900, and it will be featured next month on The Learning Channel's
30-minute "Flip That House" show.
The home, which had gone into foreclosure, required extensive overhaul: They
took it down to its beams, moved walls, expanded the kitchen and decked it out
in granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. They added spa-like
bathrooms and reworked the plumbing and electricity.
But by keeping the footprint of the home, they preserved the mature trees
and spacious layout.
"You have the quality of the new home, but you have what the old home
has," Woodhouse said.
Along the way there were surprises -- a falling tree and discovering that they
would have to replace the home's subfloors, for example.
They say home-flippers have to take the lumps in stride.
"It's stressful, but you have to stay positive and look at every
challenge as an opportunity," Woodhouse said.
