I flipped a house in Henderson: every number, start to finish
A beat-up fixer with no interior photos in the listing, a hot tub in the middle of the master bedroom and a 1993 air conditioner. Bought at $325,000, renovated for $50,000 against a $40,000 budget, sold at $450,000. Net profit: $50,000. Here is every decision along the way.
The whole project was filmed — first walkthrough, demolition, contractor meetings and closing day. Worth watching the transformation in full.
The numbers first
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Purchase price | $325,000 |
| Renovation budget | $40,000 |
| Renovation actual | $50,000 ▼ 25% over |
| Total invested | $375,000 |
| Sale price | $450,000 |
| Selling costs (commissions and closing) | ~$25,000 |
| Net profit | $50,000 |
| Return on capital deployed | 13.3% |
| Hold period | ~6 months |
The target going in was a minimum 10% return — deliberately modest and realistic rather than the numbers people quote on television. It came in at 13.3% despite going 25% over on renovation.
That margin absorbed a $10,000 overrun and still cleared the goal. A flip priced with no room for surprises is a flip that loses money on the first surprise.
On the selling costs line, the full breakdown is in what it costs to sell a house in Las Vegas.
How this house announced itself
Two signals in the listing, before ever seeing the property:
- High days on market — which almost always means something is wrong, and almost always means the seller is negotiable
- No interior photos — nobody hides the inside of a house that shows well
Both of those are buying signals for a flipper and warning signs for everyone else. That asymmetry is where the margin comes from.
What the walkthrough found
It was rough. Smokers had smoked inside for years, leaving nicotine residue through the ceilings and walls. Everything was original. Popcorn ceilings throughout.
And then the specifics:
- A roof leak with water damage soaked through the ceiling and running down a wall
- An HVAC unit from 1993 — 30 years old against a 15 to 20 year service life
- A hot tub in the middle of the master bedroom
- A rotting covered patio, with a vice grip holding part of the structure together
- Built-in shelving closing in a bedroom
- Old fixtures throughout
The honest moment in the video is worth watching — that point in a walkthrough where the list keeps growing and you start recalculating the budget in your head.
Turning a loft into a bedroom
The property had an open upstairs loft. Adding a wall, a door and a closet converts it into a legitimate bedroom — taking the house from two bedrooms to three.
Framing, drywall and a door is modest money against what an extra bedroom does to both the comparable set and the buyer pool. It was described as a must from the first walkthrough, and it was the right call.
It also produced two of the project's better lessons about planning — covered in what I would do differently.
What was kept, and what was replaced
The discipline here is what kept a $50,000 renovation from becoming an $80,000 one.
| Kept & refinished | Replaced or added |
|---|---|
| Kitchen cabinets — restained, painted, new hardware | Vinyl wood plank flooring throughout, including stairs |
| Bathroom cabinets — restained | Popcorn ceilings scraped |
| Bathroom mirror | Interior and exterior paint |
| The washer (newer than the dryer — bought a matching dryer only) | Kitchen countertops in a marble look |
| Calacatta tile backsplash matching the countertops | |
| White quartz bathroom countertops, undermount sinks | |
| Light fixtures, ceiling fans, faucets, blinds, thermostat | |
| Stacked stone fireplace surround, blacked-out firebox | |
| Shower enclosure and retiling, hex tile niches and shower pan | |
| Desert landscaping — rock, shrubs, low maintenance | |
| Demolition: hot tub, covered patio, built-in shelving |
The cabinet decision
This was the budget's pivot point. Replacing the kitchen cabinets would have broken it outright, so quotes were taken for both replacement and refinishing before committing.
They were restained and painted with new hardware. When the demolition crew removed them and they came out intact, that was the moment the budget was safe.
Flooring on the stairs
Carpet on the stairs would have saved money. Luxury vinyl plank won on durability, and it kept the flooring continuous through the house — which reads as a finished job rather than a cost-managed one.
The details that cost little
A dark stain on the banister with white spindles. Hex tile niches in the bathrooms. A Calacatta backsplash chosen partly because it matched the countertop material already being bought. Small contrast decisions that make a modest renovation photograph like an expensive one.
The before-and-after is much clearer on video than in a list — the walkthrough at the top shows each of these rooms in both states.
The overruns, named
| Item | Why it wasn't in the budget |
|---|---|
| HVAC | A 1993 unit at 30 years old. Replaceable in theory, not deferrable in practice |
| Landscaping | A large lot is a selling feature and a cost. More ground means more landscaping |
| Appliances | Came in higher than expected |
| Electrical repairs | Unforeseen — found during the work |
Three of those four are the kind of thing a walkthrough can flag but not price. The HVAC age was known from day one; what it would cost was not.
Going 25% over on renovation and still clearing the return target is the actual lesson here. The margin has to be built to survive the surprises, because there are always surprises.
Setting a neighborhood record on purpose
Timing first. The original plan was a spring listing. Rate cuts never materialised, the spring surge never came, so the listing moved to May — Memorial Day weekend, the start of the summer season, with low inventory.
Then the price. $450,000, which was higher on a price-per-square-foot basis than anything that had sold in the neighborhood.
The argument for going above the comps
- The house is small, so price per square foot runs high by definition
- Nothing recently sold was renovated to this standard
- Finding a genuinely turnkey home under $500,000 in that area is difficult
The comps did not support the price. The product did. That is a real distinction, and the appraisal ultimately agreed.
The marketing
Professional photography, a 3D tour, drone footage, and two open houses across the first weekend — with neighbours invited deliberately. Neighbours bring family who want to live nearby, and a busy open house makes interested buyers compete rather than deliberate.
Why the cash offer didn't win
Cash is usually preferred — fewer contingencies, no appraisal risk. But cash offers are frequently not the highest price, because cash buyers expect a discount for the certainty they provide.
With every offer at the same number, the deciding criterion became commitment.
An owner-occupant buying a home to live in is emotionally invested in a way an investor is not. If the appraisal comes in short, they will often find the difference rather than walk. That buyer sees the deal through.
A financed offer was accepted. The house appraised at $450,000, setting the new price-per-square-foot high for the area, and closed.
Inspection turned up a few minor items, easily handled — which is where a tip from the project applies: use contractors who will come back for small repairs once you are in escrow. Most of the flip's touch-up work happens after the sale is agreed.
Worth watching rather than reading
The write-up above covers the decisions and the numbers. What it cannot convey is the condition of the property at the start, or how far a $50,000 renovation actually moves a house.
The full project was filmed from first walkthrough to closing day — the contractor meetings, the demolition, the moments of recalculating the budget, and the finished rooms.
Flipping in Las Vegas: FAQ
How much profit is there in flipping a house in Las Vegas?
On this Henderson flip, $50,000 net. Purchase was $325,000, renovation came to $50,000 and selling costs were about $25,000, against a $450,000 sale price. That is a 13.3% return on the $375,000 deployed, over a roughly six-month hold.
What makes a good house to flip?
Cosmetic work rather than structural. Flooring, paint, countertops and fixtures all show, so buyers pay for them. Foundation problems, whole-house rewiring, repiping and mold remediation cost a great deal and are invisible once finished, which makes them hard to recover.
How do you find a flip property?
High days on market is the clearest signal — it usually means the property needs work and the seller is negotiable. This one also had no interior photos in the listing, which is another strong indicator. Probate and divorce sales are worth watching too.
Should you replace or repaint kitchen cabinets in a flip?
Get quotes for both before deciding. On this project replacing the cabinets would have broken the budget outright, so they were restained and painted with new hardware instead — and the finished kitchen showed no evidence of the compromise.
What causes flip budgets to go over?
On this project the overruns came from the HVAC — a 1993 unit well past its service life — plus landscaping, appliances and unforeseen electrical repairs. The renovation ran $50,000 against a $40,000 budget, about 25% over.
Should you take the highest offer or a cash offer on a flip?
Neither automatically. The priority is the most committed buyer, which is often an owner-occupant with an emotional investment in the property who will see the deal through. This flip received multiple offers all at the same price and accepted a financed one, which appraised and closed.
Can you set a new price per square foot record in a neighborhood?
It is possible when nothing comparable is genuinely turnkey. This house listed above every price per square foot in the area on the argument that no recent sale was renovated to the same standard — and it appraised at the full asking price.
Thinking about your first flip?
The numbers above are one project in one neighborhood. Yours will differ — but the framework transfers, and working out whether a specific property has the margin to survive its own surprises is the conversation worth having before you offer.
The rest of the series: how to flip a house, step by step and five things I'd do differently. Also: how to finance a flip, building a portfolio, and what it costs to sell.
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Jim Fong · NV license BS.0068736 · The Jim Fong Group at Real Broker · 702-997-2050
One project, described with actual figures. Purchase prices, renovation costs, timelines and resale values vary considerably by property and market conditions, and flipping carries real risk of loss. Not investment advice.