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Tampa's hot flip market helping eliminate abandoned homes

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TAMPA — Tampa Bay just ranked the 6th place of all US metro cities as the most popular place in the nation for homebuyers! That’s having a huge impact on neighborhoods, where crews are fixing and flipping even the most dilapidated homes.

Barbara Gulick is stoked. The home right next to her on Magnolia Drive in unincorporated Largo is finally getting fixed up after years of abandonment.

“It was a mess. I mean it was all run-down, unpainted, dirty. Look at it now! It’s amazing what they have done," Gulick said looking at the home from her front yard. 

The once abandoned home has a new roof, new sidings, new front pillars and new landscaping. Inside, the home is gutted as crews install new windows and doors. “Thank goodness because it has been such an eyesore for such a long time," Gulick said with a sigh.

The house hadn’t been kept up for years, and when her neighbor died three years ago, it really started to crumble.

The real estate market is so hot in Tampa Bay, that even homes in the worst condition are getting snatched up, fixed and flipped.

Daniel Paloscio, who works for Suncoast Equity Partners, flips homes for a living. He smirked and said, “I get excited when I see a house that other people cringe at.”

Paloscio is constantly on the hunt for something with good structure at a good price that he can fix, primp and sell. “We’re going to kinda give it a fluff and puff," he explained while standing next to the pool at a home in Largo he recently picked up in a short sale.

He sees potential in even the most run-down homes. “The hardest thing to do is find a good deal because there is so much competition,” Paloscio added.

That competition is now pushing flippers into taking on the most challenging homes.

A 2017 survey found Tampa Bay is the third best place in the entire nation for flipping homes, and 1 in every 11 homes sold in the Tampa Bay region are flipped.

There are several red hot areas:

In Tampa: Seminole Heights, Ybor City and the area south of USF 

In Pasco County: Holiday and Dade City 

In the Gateway Area of St Pete and in Hernando County's Brooksville where homes can be flipped and sold for twice as much!

So if you live next to an abandoned home, there is hope.

Here are specific zip codes where flipped homes are the most common: 

Zip code return on investment:
• 33523 Dade City 126.2 percent
• 34601 Brooksville 119.4 percent
• 33605 Tampa (Ybor City) 115. 8 percent
• 33612 Tampa (north Tampa, south of USF, both sides of 1-275) 99.9 percent
• 34690 Holiday 97.2 percent

Standout Tampa Bay zips for flips*
• 33606 Tampa (Davis Islands) — highest flip price at $440,000
• 33716 St. Petersburg — biggest year over year change in flips, up 89.2 percent
• 33602 Tampa (Seminole Heights) — biggest gross flip profit at $120,000
• 33637 Tampa (east of USF) — fastest average flip time at 136 days