Turning Trash Into Treasure: The Ups and Downs of a Miami Home Flipper’s 12-Year Career

For real estate investors and home flippers, one thing is key for remaining successful in a turbulent market: patience.At least, that’s what South Florida investor, house flipper, and licensed real estate agent Branden Rivero thinks.Rivero founded his company, Prop Hunters, in 2014. The Miami-Dade-based company has completed hundreds of flips, in addition to building and selling single-family homes.“I started out just wholesaling, getting affordable properties and assigning the contracts until I was able to build some capital,” Rivero tells Realtor.com®. “I started flipping just one or two houses, and now we usually do about seven to 10 at a time.”Prop Hunters flipped 25 homes last year, according to Rivero, but they’ve completed between 30 and 40 homes some years. This year’s gross profit is around $200,000 so far, accounting for both flips and new homes.In his 12 years in business, Rivero has learned to go with the flow of the sometimes volatile Florida real estate market. Looking ahead 90 days to six months is a vital part of being prepared for anything.“Everything is based on the market. Sometimes you can go full throttle when things are good,” says Rivero. “Then, once you see ...