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The Hot High Dollar Flip
Sometimes the best deal in the neighborhood is the one everyone else thinks is overpriced.
The first time I spent $80,000 on a rehab, I thought I had lost my mind.
At the time, most of my projects were straightforward cosmetic renovations. We bought ugly houses, cleaned them up, updated the finishes, and put them back on the market. Those projects were relatively quick, relatively predictable, and fit my personality well. I liked the pace.
Then I stumbled onto something different.
I bought an older home in one of Atlanta's established neighborhoods. It wasn't distressed. It wasn't falling down. In fact, the asking price was close to what similar homes in the neighborhood were selling for. Most investors would have passed on it because there wasn't an obvious bargain.
But there was something interesting happening in the neighborhood.
Most of the homes were older and selling in the mid-$300,000 range. At the same time, a handful of renovated homes were selling in the high $700,000s. These weren't merely updated. They had been reimagined. Walls had been removed. Kitchens had been opened. Primary suites had been expanded. Outdoor living areas had been added. Some owners had even added square footage.
The gap between the old houses and the renovated houses was enormous.
That's when I realized I wasn't looking at a cosmetic flip. I was looking at a transformation project.
The house we bought had five bedrooms, but the rooms were small and the closets were tiny. The kitchen felt disconnected from the rest of the house. The primary bedroom was undersized by modern standards, and the outdoor space wasn't being utilized effectively. None of these were unusual problems for a house built decades earlier. The home reflected what buyers wanted when it was built, not what buyers wanted today.
Instead of trying to preserve every square foot exactly as it existed, we started asking a different question:
What would today's buyer want this house to be?
We converted the home from five bedrooms to four and used the reclaimed space to create larger closets. We bumped one exterior wall out four feet to enlarge the primary suite. We redesigned the kitchen and improved the flow between the major living areas. We added outdoor living space with a new deck. Then we tackled all the normal renovation items—flooring, paint, fixtures, bathrooms, landscaping, and the long list of details that always seem to appear during a major remodel.
By the time we were finished, we had spent about $80,000 on the renovation and nearly a year had passed from acquisition to sale.
Even after the inevitable complications, carrying costs, surprises, and delays that come with larger projects, my partners and I each walked away with a profit of a little over $50,000.
The project taught me a lesson I've never forgotten.
In many cities, there are neighborhoods that are aging but still desirable. These are often the places where successful families built upscale homes twenty, thirty, or forty years ago. The houses themselves may no longer match modern preferences, but the schools, location, lot sizes, mature trees, and overall appeal of the neighborhood remain highly desirable.
That's where the opportunity lives.
You're not buying a distressed property. You're buying an outdated property.
Those are very different things.
When I evaluate these opportunities, I look for homes that have good bones but suffer from one or more common forms of obsolescence. The kitchen is closed off from the rest of the house. The primary suite is undersized. Closet space is inadequate. The home lacks outdoor living areas. The floor plan feels compartmentalized. The garage door, front entry, and exterior appearance haven't changed since the previous century.
Sometimes the fixes are surprisingly simple. One of the highest-return upgrades I've ever seen is a new garage door. Buyers underestimate how much visual real estate that garage door occupies on the front elevation. Replacing it can dramatically improve first impressions without requiring a massive investment.
Other opportunities are larger. Opening walls, adding square footage, enclosing underutilized space, creating a true primary suite, adding a deck or covered porch, or even constructing an accessory dwelling unit can fundamentally change how buyers perceive the property.
The key is understanding what the renovated homes in that neighborhood are actually selling for. The numbers have to support the vision.
One reason I like this strategy is that there is often less competition. Many investors are uncomfortable with larger renovations. The hedge funds generally aren't buying these properties. The project requires construction knowledge, patience, and a willingness to think beyond paint and flooring. That narrows the field considerably.
So if the strategy worked so well, why didn't I do more of them?
Simple.
It wasn't a fit for me.
I learned that I prefer faster projects. While we were working on that one house, I could have completed multiple cosmetic flips. The profit on this deal was excellent, but the timeline wasn't. I got bored. My personality is better suited to projects that move quickly.
That's an important lesson too.
A good strategy isn't necessarily your strategy.
If you're patient, enjoy construction, appreciate design, and don't mind managing larger projects, the hot high dollar flip can be an extraordinary niche. In many cities, the opportunity is almost always there because neighborhoods age faster than locations do.
The next time you're driving through an older upscale neighborhood, pay attention. The biggest opportunity may not be the cheapest house on the street.
It may be the perfectly respectable house that's still waiting for someone to bring it into the twenty-first century.
Every remodeler knows the pain — you walk a property, try to estimate rehab costs in your head, and either overbid and lose the deal or underbid and kill your margin. Handoff solves that. Describe the project, upload photos, or record a voice note on site, and Handoff generates a detailed, accurate estimate in minutes — priced by ZIP code using real supplier data from Home Depot, Lowe's, and 60 million+ SKUs. Convert the estimate to a professional proposal with one click, collect signatures, send invoices, and get paid digitally. Whether you're estimating your own flips or managing contractors, Handoff tells you exactly what the work should cost before anyone swings a hammer. Start free for 7 days, no credit card required.
Your STR is competing against hundreds of listings in the same market. The ones winning aren't necessarily bigger or cheaper — they're more memorable. Somerled Designs is a strategy-first design firm that researches your market, studies your guest, and builds an experience people pay more for and rave about afterward. Clients average a 35% revenue increase. We work nationwide — Broken Bow, Scottsdale, Gatlinburg, Nashville, the Poconos, and beyond. Start with a virtual design plan or go full-service. Free consultation to get started.
Resources
Vetted tools, services, and resources for real estate professionals. We only list what we'd use ourselves. More tools, more resources — browse the full library here.
🏗️ Remodeling & Design
🎨 Somerled — ROI-focused interior design for short-term rental owners and fix-and-flip investors. Virtual design plans show you exactly what to change and how to boost your nightly rate or sale price before you spend a dollar. Start with a Virtual Design Plan
🏗️ HomeDesigns.ai — Visualize your renovation before you spend a dollar. AI-powered design for investors and agents. Get Started
🏗️ Handoff.ai — AI rehab estimating with real-time pricing by ZIP code. Know your numbers before you make an offer. Start Your Free Trial
🛠️ FlipperForce — The project management tool built for flippers. Track every dollar and every day on every project. Start a Free Trial
🏗️ SeeItDone.ai — Show sellers and buyers exactly what a property could look like after renovation. Before and after, instantly. Start for Free
🏗️ HomeSage.ai — AI property intelligence that helps you evaluate renovation potential before you buy. Start Your Free Trial
🔑 Also Today — Property Management Top Picks
Full Property Management appears Tuesday.
🔑 Buildium — Professional property management software for landlords who are serious about scaling. Start Free Trial
🔑 PadSplit — Convert your rental into a coliving space and earn 60%+ more than a traditional rental. Get Started as a Host
🔑 DoorLoop — Modern property management software rated #1 in customer support. Start Free Trial
🔑 RentCast — Real-time rent estimates and market data for any U.S. property. Know what the market will pay before you set your rate. Try RentCast Free
🎓 Education and Training
🎓 Oceanview Commercial Lending — Start your side-hustle as a Commercial Loan Broker. Schedule an Exploratory Call
🎓 Teachable — Build and sell your own online course. If you have knowledge, Teachable helps you monetize it. Start a Free Trial
🎓 Kaplan Real Estate Education — Pre-licensing, CE, and continuing education for real estate professionals nationwide. Get Started
📚 House Flipping in Ten Days — The Amazon #1 International Best Seller. Learn everything you need to know in just ten days. Start flipping houses like it's really done — not like what happens on TV. Order here
💡 Negotiation — A fast, practical mini-course for agents, investors, and anyone who talks to people. No scripts. No pressure tactics. Just the four negotiation skills that actually make a difference. Now just $19. Enroll Now
🏠 FlipStarter — The everything-included course on flipping houses. Bonus interviews, forms, documents, and the exact process Roger used to flip more than 2,000 houses. Huge Discount for Quick Start Readers
🛠️ Quick MAO — Get your cash offer in seconds with just a few inputs. Data can be fed from the free Quick Rehab Estimator. Forever Free
Off Market Properties
🏢 Multi-Family Apartment Complex, 189 Units, Oklahoma City, OK.
🏢 Build out this apartment complex in metro Atlanta. Appraised at $11M. Price reduced to $5.9M. Click for details.
Agents, bring your investors! You’re protected. The link will download our preliminary analysis.
🏠 Six packages of Single Family Homes in Atlanta. Can be bought together or separately.
