Flip opportunities in Queens or Brooklyn

[Yi Zhao]

Hi all,

I'm a real estate investor and love house flipping. My budget is anything under 500k. As the title suggests, where are the opportunities for flips in Queens or Brooklyn?

Thanks in advance for any advice,

Yi

[Frank Chin]

I don't think it's the right time for flips.

I been following RE prices in Queens since I was 15, when in 1963, my dad bought a mixed use property for $25K. Through the years, that property mirrored the values of duplexes and triplexes. Currently where I am, values exceed $1 millon.

I started investing in real estate in 1983, There's been one major correction, values peaked in 1986, bottomed out in 1993, and went back to where they were in 1999. It peaked again in 2006, a slight correction in 2007--2008, then continued its climb.

Being a buy and hold guy, these are interesting facts. If you're a flipper, my gut is prices had climbed enough and ready for another correction. My house, bought at a foreclosure auction in 1993, market bottom, for $208K is valued at $1.275 million now (market top?).

Interestingly, I unknowingly sold one of my rentals to a flipper, closed on it in Dec 2006. How it happened is I got a quote from an American broker for $699K. A Chinese broker quoted $850K. I wanted to sell it quick, sensing a correction is coming, a third broker, Chinese, suggested I list it for $699K, he'll explain to buyers the property is under-priced, and let buyers bid up. I finally got the highest bid for $760K, but sold to a almost all cash buyer for $740K. He had $550K cash.

There was an argument at the closing, my wife wanted to walk out. I talked her into staying, telling her the market peaked, and I'm not waiting. 

A week later, I saw a for sale sign outside my property, and he had no luck with it. By June of the following year, comps on the property was running $590K to $630K. Close call.

I would buy and flip at market bottom. Its risky at market tops. And Trumps tax plan adds another level of uncertainty to the market. Analyst blamed the last big correction in 1986 to tax law changes at the time.