Egypt Sherrod: Her Secrets to Real Estate Success After 100 House Flips
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On this episode of The Better Buy, HGTV producer and house flipping aficionado Egypt Sherrod shares what really goes into flipping a house and gives tips on how to look for your forever home.
Egypt Sherrod | Design: Better Homes & Gardens
The Better Buy, a podcast from Better Homes & Gardens, explores all things home—from decorating and DIY to renovating and budgeting. For season 2, we’ll delve into the full home buying process, from house hunting and moving to interior design and landscaping, with stories, practical tips, and advice from our guests each week. We’re on a mission to inspire and empower you to create your dream home. New episodes every Wednesday!
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On This Episode
Host Mélanie Berliet talks with Egypt Sherrod, the co-executive producer and host of HGTV’s Critics Choice Award-winning show, Married to Real Estate, about what goes into flipping houses, what homeowners should keep in mind pre- and post-flip, and how she maintains her joyful mindset through it all.
Meet Egypt Sherrod
Egypt Sherrod is a real estate broker, author, life coach, designer, former radio personality, and mom of three. She co-hosts Married to Real Estate with her husband Mike, and has also appeared on HGTV’s Rock the Block, Flipping Virgins, and Property Virgins. Most recently, the Sherrods starred in the network’s Barbie Dreamhouse Challenge series. She’s the CEO of Indigo Road, a home furnishings company, as well as the Egypt Sherrod Real Estate Group, and she co-hosts a podcast, Marriage & Money, with Mike.
Advice from the Episode
Egypt shares her advice for those seeking their forever dream home.
“If you’re a first-time home buyer, even second-time home buyer, at least entertain the possibility that there’s going to be another move and let some pressure off of yourself as far as having to find the forever property. The other thing is, what is your forever home? If you can find the location you want and potentially the size you want, then you have the opportunity to improve upon it and aesthetically, on the interior, make it your dream home, so that’s another way to look at it.”
- Egypt Sherrod
How to Decide If a House Is Worth the Flip
Determine the house’s after rental value by comparing it to other properties in the neighborhood—then you can gauge if the renovations you’re considering are worth it.
Start by listing what renovations the outside of the house needs. If the yard and exterior don’t look too costly, then you can move on to assess the inside.
“As you drive up to the property, does it need extensive landscaping? I mean, is the property literally a jungle? Does it need a new roof? Do you need to do something to the exterior façade of the house as well? Is the driveway cracked beyond belief? If you’ve spent your renovation budget before you’ve ever gone in the door, just walk away because if the numbers don’t work, neither do we.”
- Egypt Sherrod
Related: What Is a Starter Home?
Should You Sell or Keep Your Flipped Property?
Many more people are looking to improve on their current properties, rather than making a move. Flipping your own property is always an option.
When flipping your own space, pay less mind to profit margin, but keep in mind that you might want to sell in the future.
“You don’t have to necessarily find the profit margin when you’re going to live in the property because hopefully it’s appreciating over the years and that’s your profit margin. But it’s still got to work because what you never want to do is over-renovate for the neighborhood and then, one day, when you do sell it, you’re in the hole.”
- Egypt Sherrod
Renting vs. Buying
First, sit down with your family and figure out if buying is in your budget.
Then, if you find it’s possible to buy, go for it! Renting is a drain on your bank account, and you’ll have the option to rent the property out for extra income.
“I definitely think even if you don’t plan to live in the unit or you have a job that requires you to be transient, you’re afraid to buy ’cause you think you might have to move—well, buy the house now. You can always rent it out. There, again, is a shortage of housing inventory and so even renters are abound. But why not allow someone else to potentially pay off a house for you with their rental income? It makes sense to have at least one property, you know, as an owner.”
- Egypt Sherrod
Advice to New Homeowners: Set Some Money Aside
When renting out or owning a house, it’s always a good idea to put some extra cash aside for repairs and unexpected expenses.
“Set aside an emergency fund for something that is inevitably going to happen or go wrong. The difference between renting and owning is you could just pick up the phone and call the superintendent or the landlord and say, ‘I’ve got a leak. Send someone out.’ And they fix it, pay for it, and everything’s back to basics. So,when you own your own home, you are the superintendent. You are the landlord and you’re the one that has to make the phone calls and cut the check. So what you want to do is just make sure that you have a little buffer fund set aside for maintenance of the home.”
- Egypt Sherrod
Find Peace Within the Chaos
Approach new tasks with gratitude, and center joy over income.
Mitigate the expectations you have of yourself and those around you.
Stay in tune with your body and live in the present.
“Everyone defines success differently. My definition of success right now is peace and joy. So career-wise, I’m still very focused in accomplishing my goals, but the way I’m going about it is different. It shouldn’t be a push-pull. You shouldn’t feel heavy when you wake up in the morning and go to work or go to sleep at night. If you feel that stressed or that unhappy, maybe you’re in the wrong line of work. And there was a point in time in my career—at different points—where I thought maybe I was in the wrong line of work. And then I realized I had to go through a shift. When you change your mind, it really can change your life.”
- Egypt Sherrod
Related: Should You Buy a House in 2023?
Links and Resources
Editor’s note: Please note that this transcript does not go through our standard editorial process and may contain inaccuracies and grammatical errors.
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