Cash$50k
Flips0
Profit+$0
🏚️
The Fixer
Est. value $0
Ceiling $0
Renovate each upgrade adds value — but only up to the neighborhood ceiling
CLOSING DAY
Net profit
+$0

Flip It

Buy a wreck, renovate on a budget, and sell before the market turns — ideally for a profit. Free, no signup.

How to play
  1. Buy the property, then spend on renovations that add value
  2. Get a Full Inspection — a hidden problem can tank the sale
  3. Don't over-improve past the neighborhood ceiling, then List It

Why it matters: flipping looks easy on TV. In reality, over-renovating, hidden repairs, holding costs and a cold market are how flippers lose money. Read the guide →

📖 Guide

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Total profit: $0
the flips have ended.

House-flipping is riskier than TV makes it look. The pros live by the "70% rule" — pay at most 70% of the after-repair value minus repairs — and know that over-renovating for the neighborhood, undiscovered structural problems, and every extra month of holding costs quietly eat the profit. The market getting the last word is the whole game.

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About this game

Flip It

Flip It hands you a tired house, a budget, and a dream of easy profit. Buy low, renovate, sell high — how hard can it be? Then the plumbing turns out to be older than the deed, the market cools the week you list, and you discover that "adding value" and "spending money" are not the same thing.

How to play

  1. Buy a property at a price that leaves room for profit.
  2. Choose which renovations to fund and which to skip.
  3. Manage hidden repairs and the holding costs ticking every month you own it.
  4. List the finished house and read the market you're actually selling into.
  5. Close the sale and see whether you cleared a profit or just funded a hobby.

What it actually teaches

Television makes flipping look like a montage; the reality runs on a few unforgiving numbers. Two anchor the whole trade. After-repair value (ARV) is what the home should sell for once renovations are done, estimated from comparable sales nearby. The 70% rule is the classic guardrail many investors use: don't pay more than about 70% of the ARV minus your estimated repair costs, leaving a margin to absorb surprises and still profit. Blow past that ceiling and the deal quietly stops working.

The game's traps are the real ones. Over-renovating pushes a house above the neighborhood's price ceiling, so you can't recover the spend no matter how nice the kitchen is. Hidden repairs — wiring, foundations, the things behind the walls — eat margin you didn't budget for. And holding costs (mortgage, taxes, insurance, utilities) keep draining money every month the house sits, which is brutal when the market goes cold and buyers vanish. Flipping is a numbers discipline, not a decorating show. Our Flip It strategy guide works through the math, and how mortgage refinancing works explains the financing side that often decides whether a flip pencils out.

Frequently asked questions

What is ARV?

After-repair value: the estimated price a home will sell for once renovations are complete, based on comparable recent sales in the same area.

What is the 70% rule?

A common flipping guideline: pay no more than roughly 70% of the ARV minus repair costs, so there's margin left for surprises and profit.

Why can renovating too much lose money?

Every neighborhood has a price ceiling. Upgrades that push a home above what the area supports rarely return their cost when you sell.

What are holding costs?

The ongoing expenses of owning the property while you renovate and sell — mortgage, taxes, insurance, utilities — which mount every month, especially in a slow market.

Related

Flip It strategy guideLandlord Clicker

For entertainment and education only.