Atlanta ranks near bottom, among 150 cities, for ‘Best Places to Flip Houses’

Judging by the sheer amount of activity, you’d think Atlanta was the country’s epicenter of lucrative home flips.

Not so, says a recent study by personal finance website WalletHub.

Slotted at 138, Atlanta ranked near the bottom of the country’s 150 largest cities for “Best Places to Flip Houses,” dragged down substantially by what it costs to buy a house and the materials (and labor) to flip it.

WalletHub’s questionable “Quality of Life” ranking didn’t do the ATL many favors, either.

Analysts weighed 22 key indicators for the markets in question, considering median purchase prices, reno costs, and a “housing-market health index,” among other data. Across the country, the average gross flipping profit was almost $63,000 last year, they found.

Overall, El Paso, Texas scored the highest, while the bottom-feeder was Oakland. Major cities with ranks below Atlanta included pricier locales such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, and Boston.

Other interesting findings:

Atlanta is tied with Orlando, Seattle, and others as having the very most real estate agents per capita in the country. Which helps explain all these emails.

And Atlanta ranks dead last for the cost to remodel an entire house, per the study.

WalletHub

Here’s how the ATL stacked up otherwise:

Market potential (includes average gross ROI, etc.) — 32

Renovation and remodeling cost rank (this includes partial renovations, etc.) — 141

Quality of life (average salaries, crime rate, job growth, schools, etc.) — 129

For further exploration of national rankings, here’s an interactive map:

• 2017’s Best Places to Flip Houses [WalletHub]