Caught in a Flip…

The deal seemed sweet and Murry Litwack loved a good deal. His best friend, Lawrence Silverstein had pitched him the opportunity during their weekly poker game. ‘’Murry, Real Estate is hot, hot, hot. It is a sucker's game and I have a chance to make some serious bread, but I want you in. There’s a house in South Lakewell, Georgia that I can buy for six hundred dollars. I have to admit that the house is in a crusty area but can you say gentrification? Dude, I estimate that if we fix the house up, we can make approximately fifty thousand each? It will take six weeks, we’ll walk away and never look back. I haven’t talked to anybody else. What do you think? Are you ready to make some easy money?’’

Murry showed his cards and raked in the pot. All the other guys at the table were talking about the Maple Leafs and their playoff chances. ‘’Look Larry, it sounds good but you know what the Better Business Bureau says, if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. I mean, what do we know about flipping houses. I couldn’t connect a new fridge when I bought it, my wife finally had to say, put in the plug. I am not Mr. Fix It.’’

Larry had a huge smile on his face. ‘’I got us covered. You know George, the guy we use to fix our cottage? He and his brother Milton, have agreed to do the work. We’ll send them from their place in Minden to Georgia. They’ll rebuild the house, get a local electrician and plumber and we’re laughing. Can you imagine buying a house for six hundred bucks? It’s ridiculous. When will we ever have this chance again? If you watch HGTV, the people who flip houses are making a shit load of money. Let’s get into the game. It’s gonna cost maybe forty thousand to do the fix, we sell the renovated house for one hundred and forty and move on. If you like the game, we buy more properties and who knows maybe we end up with our own television series.’’

Murry looked at his chip count, he was up one hundred dollars, it was an omen. ‘’I need to talk with Robin, if she is okay with it, let’s get busy.’’

Murry’s wife Robin was a pragmatic and clever woman. ‘’Larry this deal smells like dead fish. The house is way too cheap and you know nothing about home renovation. What if you have to go way over budget? We’re going to be stuck with a house in South Lakewell, Georgia. I did a google search and South Lakewell is nowhere near…