Home ownership might not be a young person’s game (a home with a 15- or 30-year mortgage typically results in higher equity as both home and homeowner age), but home flipping is. And now, the hipsters and the Kardashians have both entered the scene.
A new breed of hipster has emerged in Los Angeles: flipsters. The new title refers exclusively to hipsters who flip homes and typically market them towards a hipster market. They may seem like an unlikely bunch for the job, but they’re filling the needs of a real niche in the real estate market.
Paul Habibi, a professor at UCLA Ziman Center for Real Estate, explained why the phenomenon is catching on so quickly.
“In my classes, I always talk about ‘eating your own cooking,'” Habibi said. “It’s easier to design something that’s palatable to both you and the end user. Hipsters know what other hipsters like best.”
Flipster duo Alan Quach and Thomas Bayles have flipped almost a dozen homes in the Lost Angeles area since 2013. The two are 28 and 30, respectively, and their market is exclusively millennials. Quach believes this makes his team “purebred flipsters.”
Their flips take anywhere from four to six months to finish, including construction cleanup, which typically costs between $150 and $950. And their flips have all sold with price tags ranging anywhere from $750,000 to an impressive $2.4 million.
But flipsters aren’t the only new faces on the house flipping scene.
According to TMZ, Kris Jenner is planning an addition to her TV resume and teaming up with Scott Disick for a new house flipping show titled “Royally Flipped.”
Jenner, while not appearing in the show, will serve as a producer. Reportedly, the show will feature Disick and a currently anonymous partner buying homes to be flipped. Realtor Tomer Fridman will then be responsible for flipping the homes for profit.
The team has already begun shooting the pilot for the show, featuring multiple homes in Malibu and the San Fernando Valley. But while getting the show on-air will be as easy as twice-yearly AC inspections, getting past family drama may not be. Disick, previously married to Kourtney Kardashian, is no stranger to making waves within the family.
Jenner’s show might have upped the anticipation factor, but as of right now, it’s still no match for the proven success of flipsters in Los Angeles. Regardless, as more and more new faces appear on the house flipping scene, it’s safe to say California real estate is in for an exciting — and even more star-studded — future.
