HGTV
You've probably seen someone on TV or social media talking about “the real estate game,” as if investing in a $600,000 property, shopping around for the perfect agent, and working hard to renovate the house is as easy as picking up a controller and turning on an Xbox. But as Fix My Flip star Paige Turner (who's made millions in real estate and orchestrated over 100 profitable flips) tells us, treating the business like a game or a side hustle can quickly leave you with nothing. In an exclusive interview with House Digest, the HGTV host explained why.
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“You can lose a lot of money, and your livelihood could be your savings,” Turner said, “or, as we saw in Fix My Flip, people take their parents' lifetime savings to start this 'side hustle,' and then lose it because they don't see it as a business.”
Turner says she often hears, “I want to get into real estate.” She continues, “As soon as I hear that, I'm like, 'Well, I don't want to work with you. It's not a game for me.' I've raised my kids in this industry, and it's a tough business and there's risk. It's just as risky as the stock market or anything else you invest your money in, and you don't know what the outcome is going to be.”
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Home Resale 2023
HGTV
Rising mortgage rates and a housing shortage make buying and selling a home risky, but Paige Turner is optimistic that new flippers will enter the market in 2023. “When I bought my house in 2003, interest rates were 8, 9, 10 percent. Interest rates today are not at 'heart attack' levels,” Turner said. But he acknowledged that the market is calling for more effort and patience than in years past.
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“If you're getting started in flipping property now, be careful and don't be overconfident that your house is going to sell just because it's beautiful,” Turner explains. “Houses don't just sell themselves anymore. Real estate brokers, agents and flippers have to get back to work and actually sell houses, just like I did a few years ago before this crazy seller's market hit.”
The term “real estate game” may have had meaning in the days when you could buy a house for well above the asking price and sell it quickly for a nice profit. But Turner says those days are over. “My advice is don't assume the house will just sell itself, and the house may not be worth what you think it is, because at this point buyers will tell you what the house is worth. They want a beautiful custom look and feel at a lower price,” Turner says.
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New episodes of “Fix My Flip” air every Thursday at 9pm ET/PT on HGTV and are available to stream the same day on discovery+.