During the recent housing boom, many peope were buying homes, putting a little money into them and then putting the homes back on the market, hoping to make a lot of money quickly.  This is known as flipping in the real estate world.  I saw some horrible examples of flipping, with people not knowing what they were doing.  It was amazing, but everything seem to sell. Of course the market crashed and that was the end of flipping.

That is until the market crashed so badly and prices dropped so low, that smart investors with cash started buying homes, fixing them up and flipping them. However, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) had banned flipping, fearing that people would not be able to sell the homes once they fixed them up. That is they would not insure a home that was resold within 90 days of purchasing a foreclosed home. This of course, limited the ability to sell the home to a new purchaser.

Now, in order to move foreclosed properties quickly, HUD has decided to eliminate the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) 90-day anti-flipping rule. Most experienced investors, buy a home, fix them up and resell them within 90 days in this market. (Surprise?  Yes the market is changing)

For full details you can read HUD’s press release.

Written by John J. O’Dell
Real Estate Broker