Fixing Houses for Resale: Three Beginning Steps to Increase 
Profits and Have Fun
 
by Jeanette Joy Fisher
 
Real estate investors specializing in fixers make higher 
profits when they have a detailed work plan and know how to 
get around the future resale appraisal issues.
 
Before you begin your fixer makeover, taking a few extra 
steps helps you make more money, avoid future appraisal 
pitfalls, and have more fun.
 
1) Planning for Profits
 
Visualize your final home presentation for sale. Write out a 
description of the future home you imagine for your sales 
flyer. Name your home something other than just the street 
name; calling your fixer "Edna Street" doesn't inspire 
like "Sugar Plum Cabin." Your overall design plan helps you 
when shopping for building materials with choosing design 
details that go together for a harmonious whole house theme.
 
2) Take Photographs for Your Future Appraiser
 
You may have taken photographs during the escrow process, 
showing the seller’s possessions in the home. If your 
property was occupied during escrow, it will be worthwhile to 
take "before" photographs again, both for your own 
satisfaction and to show appraisers when they ask why you 
expect to sell the house for so much more than your original 
purchase price.
 
Detailed photographs substantiate the original condition of 
the property, compared to the final result. Avoid possible 
complications by showing the appraiser all the improvements 
that you made to the property, in order to get the full 
amount you deserve in your upgraded appraisal. This is a 
crucial step, because the appraiser must give you credit for 
your work and expenses, and not use your purchase price as 
the basis for the updated home’s true market value.
 
3) Hold a Doghouse Open House Party
 
We like to invite friends and family for a preview open house 
before we begin major work on the house. We ask them to bring 
any unwanted household fixtures or supplies and to offer any 
fix-up ideas, wild or practical, that may occur to them 
during their visit. We jot those ideas into a "transformation 
journal," and refer to them when we need fresh inspiration.
 
Here’s an example of our invitation:
 
Your presence is requested at Jeanette and Brian’s Doghouse 
Open House. Come view our latest project and understand why 
we'll be busy for the next month.
 
Please bring cuttings from your garden and any unwanted 
paint. Any household or building material hand-me-downs will 
also be greatly appreciated!
 
Sunday afternoon, noon to four.
 
Another reason for a preview party is that the amount of work 
a doghouse may need sometimes seems overwhelming, and a fun 
event like an open house helps to overshadow the crushing 
weight of the work we have waiting for us.
 
Taking these first three steps helps you ultimately make more 
money, avoid appraisal problems, and have fun fixing houses 
for profit. 

Professor Jeanette Fisher, author of "Doghouse to Dollhouse 
for Dollars: Using Design Psychology to Increase Real Estate 
Profits" and other books teaches Real Estate Investing and 
Design Psychology. For more articles, tips, reports, and 
newsletters see 
http://www.doghousetodollhousefordollars.com/