Some people make a living as "flippers," meaning they buy houses that need fixing up, put in some work, and sell it for a profit. Often the "fixes" are just cosmetic, and even those are done in a hurry at the least expense possible. Then the new owner spends the next few years discovering the shortcuts. Kaitlin Mattes and her husband bought a house during the peak of the market, when it was hard to buy any home at all. They knew it had been flipped. As she discovers the surprises the home has for them, she's been documenting them in a TikTok series she calls Horribly Flipped House.
@theedelweisshaus See the mistakes made in my master bathroom #flippedhousefail #flippedhomes #homediyfails #newhome #whatisthismadness
♬ Music For a Sushi Restaurant - Harry Styles
As someone who has lived in very old houses built by non-professionals, that doesn't sound all that bad. At least the sink works, right? But it gets worse. Let's see the kitchen.
Mattes has 18 videos of her Horribly Flipped House series up. You can see those videos, as well as plenty on their home renovation work, at TikTok. Buzzfeed talked to Mattes about her home-buying experience and how she keeps her sanity, and gives us some advice on how to spot a flipped house (hint: subway tiles and gray floors). My advice would be to check a home's purchase history. If the current owner has only had it for less than two years, they are house flippers. Beware.