Celebrities Flipping Houses?

While rehabbing homes should not be viewed as a hobby – despite what HGTV would have you believe – it can be a lucrative form of investment for people who have the means to entrust others to do the heavy lifting for them. At least, that seems to be what a number of Hollywood elite have discovered.

While it’s incredibly unlikely that these celebs are personally doing the required research to pick rehab properties themselves – and even less likely that they’re inside swinging sledge hammers and comparing paint swatches – they have found a way to put some of their excess cash to use and turn it into more cash. With average gross profits from rehabbing houses around 48% nationwide, it’s no wonder that the rich and famous are jumping into the rehab marketplace.

Here are just a few celebrity flippers, according to People:

Ellen DeGeneres – Ellen has bought and sold more than a dozen homes in the last twenty years or so, and she calls flipping houses a genuine passion of hers.

Diane Keaton – The famed actress apparently has a knack for finding and renovating historic homes. One home, which she purchased for $8.1 million, she turned around and sold to Ryan Murphy (the creator of Glee, American Horror Story, and Nip/Tuck) for $10 million. She’s also written a book about Spanish and Mission-style architecture. Clearly, Diane knows her stuff.

Jeremy Renner – The award-winning actor has purchased and remodeled more than 20 homes in the last 15 years. His projects range from mansions to cabins. Evidently, Renner is drawn to “great old architecture” that he can reimagine with modern comforts.

Mark Ballas – A favorite dancer from Dancing with the Stars, Mark may be one of the few people on this list who actually does some renovating himself. He purchased a home in 2014 for $2.5 million, completely renovated it, then sold it for $4.3 million. He’s also appeared in a four-episode flipping special on HGTV.

Beck – The A-list singer tried his hand at flipping in 2016 when he purchased an historic Brentwood home and restored it to its former glory. The house is currently listed for $3.75 million.

Funding for the Rest of Us

Clearly, celebrities have an upper-hand when it comes to flipping multi-million-dollar properties – they have millions of dollars. But investors who aren’t Beck can still explore the higher end of the market with house flipping loans.

While a loan may not be appropriate for every flipper – the Ellens and Keatons of the world – they can help many flippers mitigate their risks by keeping more of their capital in their own hands. House flipping loans also let investors purchase bigger properties or more of them, helping them scale up their businesses. And fix and flip financing provides cash on hand for renovations, so you never need to delay a project based on cash-flow problems. Perhaps that’s why more than a third of house flippers nationwide – the highest rate in nine years -- currently use some form of financing to purchase rehab properties.