Flipping homes remains on rise locally

Despite a national decline in home flipping, investors are showing no signs of slowing down in central Ohio.

During the second quarter of this year, 589 homes were flipped in the Columbus area, up from 460 in the same period in 2018.

Area flippers ramped up their activity even though flipping fell 5.2% nationally from a year earlier, according to a new report from the real estate information service Attom Data Solutions, which defines “flipped” homes as properties bought and sold within 12 months in conventional sales.

In the Columbus area, investors continue to comb some urban neighborhoods for deals, especially those near Nationwide Children’s Hospital such as Southern Orchards, Old Oaks and Olde Towne East.

A few examples:

• A three-bedroom, twobath home at 778 S. 17th St. in Southern Orchards sold in March for $85,000. Now fully renovated, it is listed for $249,900. Next door, at 772 S. 17th, a home that sold for $80,000 a year ago is listed at $250,000.

• A four-bedroom home at 921 E. Livingston Ave. in Southern Orchards that sold in January for $90,000 is now, after renovation, listed for $339,000.

• A three-bedroom, threebath home at 1235 Franklin Ave. in Franklin Park that sold at the end of 2017 for $90,000 is now listed for $469,000 after being “taken down to the studs,” according to the listing.

• A four-bedroom home at 730 S. Champion Ave. in Old Oaks that sold in early 2018 for $34,900 is now, after renovation, listed for $300,000.

“All the areas inside of that Children’s Hospital area, those are hot areas because there are still distressed properties down there for investors to work on,” said Zach Cantrell, a Keller Williams real estate agent listing the Champion Avenue home.