this thread is partly for Sad, because she's trying to find a house to flip and can't decide if buying a split-foyer is a bad idea. And partly because I'm interested in flipping too, and these are photos of our first "flip" - although we owned the house for 4 years and lived in it while we were working...as soon as the work was done we sold it for a big profit. I really think I want to try this again!

Sad- this house was a split-foyer, so maybe it will give you ideas of what you can do with this type of floorplan.

first pics - this is the exterior before and after. Although this house was built new, it was built by a very cheap crappy builder. On split-foyers, you can see that the side of the house is half concrete and half siding - it chops the house in half visually. Also the front porch was poured concrete with a black iron railing. The railing rusted almost immediately, and the orange rust was pouring over the steps and staining them. The landscpaing was crap.

We hacked off the railings, built a wood porch over top the concrete one, put up nicer white railings, painted the foundation to match the siding, and redid the landscaping...... (first two pics are befores)

this is the before and after of the kitchen. I know in flipping you're not supposed to use bold/dark colors on the walls, but in this instance it worked for me. A decorator recommended it because I was stuck with the builder's choices: black appliances, gray countertops, etc. I slapped crown molding and beadboard on the cabinets and painted them white, installed a microwave, etc.

oh - and those red and white toile plates that I hung above the cabinets? were fancy paper plates that i just stuck up there. nobody could tell the difference. LOL

here's the back deck we added. Split-foyers are great for this, because they usually need a deck and the bigger you can make it the better! Span the whole back of the house if you can! It added a lot of value. If you can build it yourself, the bigger the better.

Wow, you did a great job!  Thanks for sharing your handy work with us.

Are there rules to flipping?  Or is it just fixing up a house?

I wish I had the energy to do things like this!   I am still trying to decide on a paint color for my bathroom, and get started. I am procrastinating (7 years) because I don't feel like taping up all of the mirrors and fixtures (large bathroom - 5 door frames, window frame, 2 mirrors, 2 light fixtures, and a shower stall, toilet etc...

Great Job PC.!

I believe you have to live in a house two years as your primary residence or you will owe capital gains tax on the sales proceeds.   

Your pics ARE amazing PC!!!! Great work! I am so impressed!! Did you lay carpet yourself? I think it was you that said you did everything but mudding the drywall yourself. My husband is worried about the carpet laying, so we were going to let the pros do it.

 Our plan is to live in this house for 5 years before selling. That should give us enough time to be somewhere else with careers (to afford a nicer house next time around) and enough time for the market to bounce back up.....

PC,  How did you learn to lay tile and laminate floors?  Is it very difficult?