re: First time flip - floor plan question (PIC)

I'd move the kitchen all the way to the back, put the dining room in the middle and the living room in the front -- classic property brothers style. Also, I'd move the washer and dryer against the wall and create a tall broom closet on the side of it to store the vaccuum and brooms/mops. perhaps do storage hooks or place to feed pets across from the broom closet if there's not enough space for a small freezer. Definitely do a linen closet in foyer or put shallow cabinets (mud room style) on the hall wall (facing the bedrooms) to hang purses/backpacks, with cubby type pull out drawer storage underneath and closed cabinets on top to the ceiling

Pier / Beam or SOG?

I’m no expert.

The living and sleeping areas are not separate enough. 1) Add a closet across from the entrance door. This creates a foyer and doesn’t let guest see open bedroom doors. It also creates a sound barrier. This also draws people left where they should go instead straight where we naturally go. 2) Add a door from the den to the hallway. The bedrooms now have two layers of sound barrier from the den. This again separates living and sleeping areas. One family member can go to bed early and not hear the others with two doors closed. When entertaining the door stays open so guest can see the restroom.

Don't cut off that front bedroom from the bathroom that services it by closing in the hallway...You don't want folks having to go through the living areas after their shower.

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As my wife has said when looking at properties for sale "some man thought this was a great idea, but no woman will ever buy it." Big mistake made by men flipping houses is not getting a woman involved in the design phase.

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This is 100% truth. We may not like it, but there are certain things that are dealbreakers for them.

As for my thoughts on the floor plan, first off, I'd have a number of questions I'd want answered before I provided any real advice. There's so much regarding the area, the comps, your experience (first timer), and a number of other factors that need to be considered.

However, I've done three flips, and personally I don't just do them for the money. I do them because it's fun to transform houses IMO. I have been accused of doing too much, but o well. of the three we've done, one broke even, one was a decent profit, and one did very well. I like taking a bit of risk, and I've been accused repeatedly of wanting to do to much, but o well.

I also have a very strong opinion about dining rooms AND living rooms in small houses. Depending on the area you're in, I consider them completely unreasonable and a waste of space. If you are in a quiet, older area with older clientele, don't do what I'm about to suggest. However, we flipped a house that was in a trendy younger are and made great returns by doing getting rid of the dining room. It's wasted space in a lot of people's mind. I know many will say it shrinks your resale market, but I disagree.

Here's my crude mark-up. It's probably a bit difficult to follow, but here goes:



1. Definitely agree with a small closet or something to create a barrier in the front. This is close to a must.

2. Then, for the back of the house, I basically get rid of the dining room and pull the back wall further. I bring the laundry room up (red hashed line) and then this allows me to slide the master bathroom (blue hashed line) to the back left corner behind the new laundry room location. This then opens up the yellow space as the total area available for a master bathroom and true walk-in closet. People who are buying a house this size don't have the money for a ton of space so the only way to wow them is with a kickass MB/Bath/Closet space IMO. Yes it will take some more significant investment, but it will likely be minimal as none of the plumbing is being moved dramatically.

3. Get rid of the peninsula and make an island bartop area. Steer right into the skid of not having a dining room and make this a fun area to sit and eat at and hangout in.

Anyways, it may be a bit risky for the first flip, but it's what I'd do as I like transforming things a bit more. I also think your best bet is in wowing them with a great master bedroom and bath setup. Having said all this, you should be able to run the numbers on neighboring comps and expected quotes and determine whether something like this would make you any money in the end or not.

Good luck and have fun!

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OP is there really only one means of egress there?

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I was wondering the same.