Even in a super-lucrative location, home-flipping does not always go the way one hopes -- particularly in certain parts of California, years of skyrocketing real estate prices have overinflated the market such that prices have been going down slightly in the last year.
The "invest away from California" strategy has served some real estate buyers well -- since the start of the pandemic, the cost of a single family home in Austin grew by nearly 70%. For homes purchased with the goal of renting them out, the average rent price is now 86% higher than it was just a year ago.
The capital of both Tennessee and country music, Nashville is another city that has seen its real estate prices soar in recent years -- the median list price is now $561,967, or 24.9% more than it was in 2021.
Reese Witherspoon Is a Major Home Flipper
The urban-yet-homey feel has been attracting transplants from more expensive cities and also locals like Reese Witherspoon.
Known for early hits like "Legally Blonde" and the more recent "Big Little Lies" on HBO, the Academy Award-winning actress bought three homes in 2022 alone, all in the state where she spent a significant part of her youth -- a four-acre estate for $18 million, a $4.2 million brick house in downtown Nashville and a smaller $672,000 property.
Witherspoon has, in recent years, turned toward restoring fixer-uppers -- Dirt.com reported Witherspoon sold a Nashville home that she bought in 2018 for $7.4 million.
The home appeared on an episode of Netflix (NFLX) show "Get Organized With The Home Edit" in which the show's hosts helped Witherspoon declutter her home and organize her extensive clothing collection.
The 8,400 square foot six-bedroom home, built in 1937 in the Colonial style, sold off the market at a major profit -- Witherspoon and her husband Jim Toth bought it in the summer of 2018 for just $3.7 million.
What Does It Take to be a Home-Flipper?
Along with the six bedrooms and eight bathrooms, the white brick home sits on an 1.23-acre plot of land set off by a circular parkway. It comes with both a formal dining room and a chef's kitchen as well as an outdoor pool, a patio with a fire pit, and a sweeping garden.
Music producer Randy Wachtler of 11 One/Music was, according to Dirt.com, the one who paid $7.4 million for the property. While the sales price places the home at the ultra-luxury end of the market, the price difference is not that unusual for a city that has seen an influx of new residents since the pandemic.
At 46 years old and worth over $400 million, Witherspoon has spent the last few years following through on her interest in restoring historic homes and then flipping them. In March, she and Toth placed a Los Angeles home that they bought for $16 million in 2020 on the market for $25 million.
The hobby is not an uncommon one for Hollywood celebrities. TV host Ellen DeGeneres bought a 12,000-square-foot Montecito mansion for $21 million and, within six months, sold it for $36 million.
Despite already owning more than $40 million in real estate around LA alone, actor and comedian Adam Sandler also recently purchased a 7,600-square-foot home from 1947 that the listing described as the perfect place to "reimagine and develop your dream home."
