No California City Listed in Top 10 Cities to Flip Houses

If you’re among the millions of HGTV viewers who’ve seen an episode of “Flip or Flop,” you’ve probably thought about the thrill of gutting a house and turning a five- or six-figure profit. But the process isn’t as easy as the professionals on television make it look. Any experienced home flipper would caution you that transforming a fixer-upper into a profitable property is a difficult process, according to Adam McCann of WalletHub.

In other words, don’t get your hands dirty until you’ve learned a thing or two about real estate, construction and how much damage your project could do to your wallet. Breathing new life into a low-cost property won’t necessarily return your full investment and allow you to pocket another $63,500, the average gross flipping profit in Q1 2021. According to RealtyTrac, though, the current homeownership rate is 65.6 percent (down from a high of 69.20 percent in 2004). Current demand for homes is waning after a very strong 2020.

With house flippers earning an average gross profit of $63,500 in Q1 2021, the personal-finance website WalletHub has released its report on 2021’s Best Places to Flip Houses.

Four California cities found themselves among the worst cities in the nation to flip houses. Find out  which cities made the list below.

To help serious real-estate investors find the best markets to list their flipped properties, WalletHub compared more than 170 U.S. cities across 26 key metrics. The data set ranges from median purchase price to average full home remodeling costs to real-estate agents per capita.

Best Cities to Flip Houses
1. Sioux Falls, SD
2. Missoula, MT
3. Peoria, AZ
4. Nampa, ID
5. Tampa, FL
6. Mobile, AL
7. Boise, ID
8. Rapid City, SD
9. Gilbert, AZ
10. Knoxville, TN

Worst Cities to Flip Houses
163. Oxnard, CA
164. Wilmington, DE
165. Jersey City, NJ
166. New York, NY
167. Los Angeles, CA
168. Bridgeport, CT
169. San Francisco, CA
170. Yonkers, NY
171. Oakland, CA
172. Newark, NJ

Best vs. Worst

  • Pittsburgh has the highest average gross return on investment, 128.12 percent, which is 9.4 times higher than in Raleigh, North Carolina, the city with the lowest at 13.64 percent.
  • Montgomery, Alabama, has the lowest median purchase price, $60,000, which is 15.3 times lower than in San Jose, California, the city with the highest at $920,000.
  • Memphis, Tennessee, has the highest share of home flips, 11.95 percent, which is 6.1 times higher than in Portland, Maine, the city with the lowest at 1.95 percent.
  • Charleston, South Carolina, has the most real-estate agents (per 100,000 residents), 247, which is 41.2 times more than in Worcester, Massachusetts, the city with the fewest at 6.
  • Little Rock, Arkansas, has the lowest average full home remodeling costs, $75,888, which is five times lower than in Atlanta, the city with the highest at $375,734.

To view the full report and your city’s rank, click here.

 

 

Image Sources

  • Flipping houses: Shutterstock