Overheard a guy at Home Depot talking about flipping houses with no license

He was bragging to his buddy about buying a duplex cash and just calling it his 'personal property sale' to skip the license. Made me realize how many people cut corners like that and what it does to legit freelancers trying to do it right. Anyone run into unlicensed flippers in your market?

3 comments

3 Comments

river_thompson5d ago

And here's the thing nobody brings up - when they skip the license, they're also not pulling permits for the work. So you've got a house with unlicensed electrical or plumbing that later gets sold to some poor family who has no idea. I've seen it happen twice in my neighborhood where the flipper did a quick cosmetic flip, then the new owners moved in and found out the hard way that none of the structural stuff was done right. It gives legit flippers who actually do things by the book a bad name because people start thinking all flips are junk.

william_craig75d agoMost Upvoted

Forget about insurance too - bet they don't carry proper liability coverage.

lisab324d ago

You're looking at this all wrong honestly. If someone buys a property with their own cash and sells it without doing major structural work, the license thing is mostly just a gatekeeping tool for people who want to keep competition out. @william_craig7 brings up insurance but that's just another cost that gets passed to the buyer anyways - if the work is simple like paint and flooring, you don't need liability for that. The permit argument is overblown too because half the time even licensed contractors do work without pulling permits if it's just cosmetic. And let's be real, the market decides what a house is worth - if the flipper does a bad job, the next buyer or their inspector will catch it before closing. There's plenty of legit flippers out there but pretending everyone needs a license to paint a few walls and replace countertops is just elitism.