To really understand flipping houses, you might compare it to something else. Have you ever considered the metaphor of art?
Metaphors are one of the best ways of understanding anything. If you really want to learn something new, to speed the process, to deepen the learning… you embrace and compare the new subject to something you already know about. Something familiar to you. Something simple.
This is metaphor. This is comparative learning. The greatest teachers in the history of the world have used metaphors again and again to engrain their teachings in others. The method works because it applies a basic truth about human understanding. It’s the concept of being relative.
We understand things, concepts, and realities by WHAT THEY ARE NOT.
We know high… because we understand low. We know long… because we understand short. We know hot… because we understand cold.
And vice-versa.
And so, flipping houses is likewise relative to other things. In this discussion, art.
And how is it like art? Well, we must consider the definition of art: beauty, expression, individuality. Creativity and passion. There are many ways to understand art, to grasp what it really means. And one way in which art can be understood is the “taking of something ugly, or basic, and making it into something beautiful, or refined”.
Sounds like flipping houses to me. For one, to flip a house means having a house that could use a facelift. Maybe even major surgery. Ugly, plain, in need of repair. Often times, the more damaged and dilapidated, the better it is. The greater the house flipper is able to change the house, the more of a “work of art” it becomes.
These kinds of homes make stellar flippers. You must start with little to make a lot.
For another, flipping a house means having the ability to do the upgrading, the tearing, the lifting, the breaking, and the fixing. The creating and the designing. A house flip project needs the crews to do the work, and do it well. Everyone who has worked in this business understands the importance of the crew. There are just too many possibilities for trouble on any house renovation project to be working with unorganized or unskilled workers.
The house flipping project is similar to a painting canvass needing a painter. The canvass alone will inspire no one. But give a skilled and artistic painter some brushes and paint…and the blank canvass, and there will soon be something to look at and talk about. Something of value.
Finally, flipping houses can be compared to art because in art, presentation counts. A gorgeous painting needs a gorgeous frame. A finely designed figurine needs an elegant base. An engorging book needs a provocative cover. Even so, a remodeled home for sale needs some finishing touches, accents such as staging furniture, washed windows, and mowed lawns. The home also needs a marketing plan: expressive photos and captivating descriptions.
Flipping houses is understood best by comparing it to concepts that are similar, but are of a different subject. Art is a subject that is different, yes, but amazingly similar, for the process of change and creation in art is much like the process we go through when we flip houses.
Most people who flip houses for a living don’t consider themselves artists. But I can assure you…they are.
