Can you really renovate an entire condo for $28,000? That was the challenge with this flip. After purchasing the property for $256,000, Scott and Kristyn had a clear goal: make smart improvements, move quickly and get the property back on the market in roughly 45 days with a target list price of $345,000. That meant knowing where to spend and where not to spend. One of the biggest examples was a massive 9-foot sliding glass door. Instead of accepting a roughly $7,000 replacement quote, they found a creative $3,200 solution that saved about $3,800. They also salvaged existing countertops where it made sense and used epoxy to give bathroom fixtures a fresh look without automatically replacing everything.

That’s the side of flipping houses that can get lost in the dramatic before-and-afters. A successful flip isn't necessarily about choosing the most expensive finishes; it's about making hundreds of decisions that keep the renovation moving while protecting the numbers. For this project, $256,000 purchase + $28,000 renovation + a 45-day turnaround created the strategy behind getting the condo ready for a potential $345,000 retail list price. And sometimes the smartest decision on a flip isn't what you add.  It's figuring out what you can save.