In this instructional YouTube video, seasoned real‑estate professional Joe Homs (over 40 years as broker, mentor, and investor) outlines four common oversights that house flippers often forget during rehabs. First, he stresses protecting the property from vandals by avoiding front‑door combo lockboxes and, when feasible, installing camera systems. Second, he advises keeping interior and exterior lights on continuously to deter trespassers. Third, he highlights the importance of conforming fixtures—ensuring consistent lighting, updating wall outlets to modern types, and installing required GFCI outlets in wet areas. Fourth, he recommends posting a for‑sale sign and allowing showings only after the rehab is fully completed, to avoid premature exposure to buyers. Throughout, he invites viewers to comment, subscribe, and watch related videos for deeper investing guidance.
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In today's video, I'm going over 4 things that you don't want to forget when you're flipping houses. Coming up next. When rehabbing, we often hear about what we should do and what we shouldn't do, but rarely do people talk about the things that we're likely to forget. Let's talk about it. Welcome back. I'm Joe Homs. I have over 40 years of experience as a broker, mentor, and investor. Make sure that you subscribe so that you never miss a video. Number 1, forgetting to protect your property against vandals. There are several ways that you can do that. You can set up a camera system at the house. Sometimes that's not feasible because you need Wi-Fi to do that, but there may, there may be some methods where you can get Wi-Fi and then put a camera at the house. One of the biggest things that I've learned over the last 40 years is I never put the lockbox, a combo lockbox, on the front door of the property. People driving by, they see that and it's just an invitation for somebody to come by with deadbolts, cut that door lock open, take it home, pry it open, come back, and there's the key. And then they access the property that way. At the end of the day, if somebody wants to vandalize your property, there's really not much you can do, but you can try to mitigate it as much as you can. Number 2, forgetting to light up the house. So I always leave a light on inside the house. If there's any outside lighting, I always turn that on. I leave it on 24/7 so that when people are driving by that they see a light and that maybe there's somebody there. They don't know, so they're moving on to the next property that they may vandalize or hit. Number 3, forgetting to conform your house. So let's talk about lighting outside. Make sure that the lighting is all the same. You don't have one different light fixture here, another different light fixture there. Make sure it conforms with all the rest of the light fixtures. As you come into the house, the wall sockets, are they the old round ones or are you upgrading to the new square ones? And those should all be conforming. And when you're in the kitchen, when you're in the bathrooms, anywhere there's water, you have to make sure you put a GFCI, which is a ground fault circuit interrupter. Those are required on all properties. And so that you make sure that you have all that stuff and that it all looks the same throughout the house so that you're conforming. Number 4, forgetting to put a for sale sign only when the rehab is done. I do not let anybody into my properties for really any reason to look around. I've had buyers come by, knock on the door. Hey, can we see what you're doing? You know, we might, might buy it from you. Buyers these days don't have any imagination. They just have no clue. So I only let them in when I'm finished. I'm done. The final product's ready to go. That's when I post my for sale sign outside. What other things do you think house flippers forget when they're doing their rehabs? Let me know in the comments below. If you're new to investing or flipping and want to know how to be successful this year, click on this video right here. I go over step by step how to make your next project a big success. If you have any questions, like always, make sure to reach out. See you on the next one.
