Last year “was much slower than the pandemic,” Mustafa said. Without gut-renovations, RedFin's Zhao said contractors that don't build new homes get smaller-ticket refurbishment work for current homeowners.
House flippers can hire less workers for improvements due to lesser revenues, which can slow sales. Martinez of JATS Properties said he fired a full-time handyman.
Since his family-owned company brokers and manages properties, the workforce loss meant less attention to home-flip projects. "We had to slow [workers] down on our projects, and lend them out to our clients," he said. We prioritize employees since they're ours.
We have them work on our clients' homes when we can't afford our own. It relieves us of those employees' costs." Flippers are diversifying amid slow turnover. Martinez started lending to potential investors with property-secured loans after transaction volume halved in 2023.
El Moussa, who needed to prepare for losses from unsold flipper projects, began buying home purchase contracts wholesale and selling them to investors, which yield lower margins but are less hazardous than flipping.
"In order to get prepared for those losses that were coming, I stopped buying houses to flip and I only focused on wholesaling," stated. House flipper reality TV has also altered. According to iSpot, HGTV ad income fell from $42.7 million in 2021 to $32.6 million in 2023.TV, a television ad measuring provider, still dominates its market.
HGTV head of home content Loren Ruch said shows like The El Moussas have explored rates, delayed turnover, and price acceleration in Southern California to engage viewers. Show development now emphasizes guest houses and multi-generational living.
"People might not be spending huge amounts of money on design or renovation projects, so we're also looking into a variety of shows that are more approachable price points that are maybe based on not doing as much demolition, but actually focusing on the space and the configuration," he said.
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