Buyers balk at markup on flips

I'm not really sure exactly when investors got such a bad name. Once upon a time, every other person I met wanted to be one. Maybe it was the imprimatur of slick, infomercial-esque get-rich-quickness that kick-started the national anti-real-estate-investor antipathy. It probably didn't help when investors, only a small percentage of whom can accurately be called "flippers," ended up squarely on the wrong end of the foreclosure-crisis finger-pointing.

Probably wrongfully so, as the last numbers I could find -- from 2008 -- showed that only 20 percent of the foreclosures in America at the time were on non-owner-occupied homes, which is disproportionately low, considering that 33 percent of homes in America are owned by investors.

All last year, during the deepest depths of the foreclosure crisis, I saw buyer after buyer get outbid -- or underbid, but still bested -- by cash investors seeking to make the most of the decline in home values. While I felt deeply for the homebuyers who lost out, I also saw how investors played a big role in mopping up the excess inventory that was depressing values, and could appreciate their role in the market's recovery.

Then, in January, the Department of Housing and Urban Development lifted the FHA loan anti-flipping guideline, which had prevented buyers from using an FHA-insured loan to buy a home that had been bought within the previous 90 days.

Now, my buyer clients and I are seeing the maturation of the investor-buy-foreclosure phenomenon, as we see listing after listing that was purchased at foreclosure auction, rehabbed/remodeled/upgraded/primped to within an inch of its life, and put back on the market for resale, at an obvious -- and sometimes steep -- markup.

At this point, I've done this so many times I could script it:

Scene: Buyers enter the house: "Wow -- this is gorgeous. They did a ton of work. Oh my gosh -- look at those appliances. Is that Wolf/Viking/Kenmore Elite (depending on price range)? Gorgeous. All new bathrooms, too?! Distressed bamboo on the floors -- I love this. They made such great choices. We basically wouldn't have to do a thing to move in!"

Buyers leave the house -- "We'd love to make an offer. Will you run the comps for us and give us the background? Ta-ta! Talk to you soon! So excited!!"

I call the buyers -- "OK, well, I've sent you the comparables. This place is actually priced $10,000 below the nearest identical comparable that sold a month ago, and of course that one wasn't remodeled."

Buyers: "Fabulous -- it's totally worth that, at least. Do you think we'll need to offer more than asking to beat out the other buyers? We're OK with doing that -- we'd go up to $20,000 over asking. Oh -- quick question -- are the owners investors?"

Me: "Yes." ...CONTINUED

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