Flipping houses has become a major trend in the last decade. In the fourth quarter of 2018, the flipping rate for homes in the U.S. reached 10.9% of all home sales. That same year, Americans spent $394 billion improving their homes.
Flipping certainly has its benefits, even for those who choose to keep their investment properties for themselves. For instance, the cost of your home insurance is typically 0.5% of the home’s purchase price, and fixer-uppers can be seriously affordable considering how much elbow grease they need. But that doesn’t mean flipping a fixer-upper is an easy job. Fortunately, there are some awesome apps that can make fixing up your fixer-upper a little bit easier. Here are five must-have apps investors ought to download.
1. Dwellr
Fixing up a house is only one part of the flipping process. When you’re investing in a property you intend to sell later on, you want to be sure that you’re choosing a fixer-upper in an area where a homebuyer will want to live. That’s where Dwellr comes in. Dwellr is an app that provides you with all the relevant local information a real estate agent can. The app can give you U.S. Census data, the average value of homes in the area, school information, and more.
2. Xome
Many housing investors already know about apps like Trulia and Zillow. However, Xome is also a great app for those who are looking for houses coming to auction. Xome has one of the largest selections of foreclosure, short sale, and REO properties nationwide. The app also offers an easy-to-use user experience, keeping potential investors updated with property price histories and more.
3. Property Fixer
It’s one thing to consider investing in a property and another to actually do it. Property Fixer allows you to calculate just how expensive it would be to buy a specific house and invest in certain repairs and renovations. All you need to do to calculate the approximate expenses is enter the property’s address, a photo of the property, and any other specifics. The app will provide you with estimated overall expenses and will also calculate your potential return on investment.
4. Houzz
Once you have a property to invest in, you want to be sure that you’re making the right investment choices. The Houzz app gives you the ability to view rooms in your property in 3D with over 1 million different products you can virtually try out in the space. Even cooler is that the app also lets you research and hire home improvement professionals and shop for materials and products all in the app.
5. Dropbox
With Google Play and the Apple App store banning apps more frequently, it’s a good idea to keep your investment information backed up elsewhere on your phone. Dropbox gives you the ability to sync up all of your essential files to the Cloud so you never have to worry about losing data. Dropbox also makes it easier for you to keep your documents, powerpoints, and more organized in one place rather than scattered across several devices.
House flipping can be tricky. You want to be sure you’re making the right investment choices both in terms of real estate and design. With the apps above, you can make your investment process just a little bit easier.
