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	Peter Fallico, host of HGTV’s Home to Flip, shares his secrets for successful HOUSE FLIPPING
	story Maureen Scott   photographs ?? Peter Fallico was just 21 years old, fresh out of college and anxious to leave home when he purchased his first fixer upper. It would be the first of five houses Peter ‘flipped’, netting him with a pocket full of cash and a job as host of his own TV show. Now with four shows under his tool belt, Season 2 of his current show HGTV’s Home to Flip, premieres Monday March 8 at 9 p.m. on HGTV.  “I was flipping houses without even realizing I was doing it!” laughs Toronto-born Peter. “I love to renovate houses!” Peter says he caught the “renovation bug” at age 12. He made a light fixture in shop class for his bedroom. He went home, installed the fixture himself, and then did a complete makeover on his bedroom. “My Dad was a duct-tape kind of guy—not very handy,” laughs Peter. “But my Mom and I were always fixing things.” After graduating from the Furniture Making & Design course at George Brown College, Peter spent a year at the Ontario College of Art, then two more years at the Arts Centre, studying sculpture, ceramics and visual arts. “The first place I bought was a huge three-storey house that I turned into an income property with 3 apartments,” says Peter. “I lived in the middle one and rented out the other two. I paid $260,000 (in 1990), which was huge then, and sold it for $550,000.”  Almost doubling his investment in seven years, Peter was young, single and on the move, literally. “I live in every home I buy for a while to try to wrap my head around what needs to be done,” explains Peter. “I’m not a fan of the quick 6-month flip. I move out during the renovation process, and then move back in to enjoy it for a while. Then I find another project to renovate.” He maintains a house in downtown Toronto as home base.   The good-looking, charismatic “handyman” started off as the co-host on This Small Space then got his own show called Home to Go, a show for renters. That led to hosting Home to Stay a series for first time home buyers and now Home to Flip. Weekly on Home to Flip, Peter offers expert advice on home renovating, design and ‘flipping’. Viewers learn where to find properties, which spaces to spend the biggest dollars on for the biggest impact and how do-it-yourself (DIY) projects customize a space. “I add signature touches with a focus on storage,” explains Peter. “Sometimes the reason people move is that they’ve run out of space.  A family should be able to walk in and visualize their things sitting on the shelves.” Renowned for his carpentry skills, Peter’s “touches” might include adding custom bead board to a shelving unit, adding built-ins to flank a fireplace, building custom kitchen cupboards and then extending those cupboards into a dining room to extend the space or one of his favourite projects –building custom closets which look like they came straight off the pages of Martha Stewart Living.  While he is renovating one house, Peter and his trusted agent are on the look out for the next great find. Mississauga proves to be a magnet for “house flippers,” especially in the city’s southernmost neighbourhoods, where investors seek ugly duckling bungalows to transform and gain a profit upwards of $100,000. Mississauga is hot, hot, hot with house-flippers. “The house I purchased for Season One was a fixer upper in an up-and-coming neighbourhood in the Christie and Dupont area—The West Annex.  It was a modest, solid red brick farm- style home with a front porch, sitting on a wide lot. It was an estate sale and it hadn’t been touched in awhile. It was dated, but solid.”   Just the kind of house “flippers” want. “You don’t want to buy someone else’s renovations,” says Peter. “Nor do you want a house that has been neglected for too long or has structural damage. No cracks in the basement—no rebuilding roof lines. You want a house somewhere in between where all the fundamentals are in place. There are a lot of people out there doing this, like myself. It’s quite competitive. A lot of contractors are buying houses and changing the roof lines. My focus is to try to use as much as I can in a house, bring it up to date and then add signature touches.” When buying a house to flip, expect to “rewire and replumb,” advises Peter. And for biggest impact, tackle the kitchen and bathroom first. “Start with the kitchen and bathroom and use materials which give you the ‘wow’ factor-- stainless steel appliances, natural elements like granite counter tops, hardwood or stone flooring. People want to come in and see the kitchen and bathroom done and they expect to see upscale features when you are asking a bigger dollar.”  Peter admits he was about $25,000 over budget on the Season 1 house, but he still made a hefty profit upon resale. Season 2 –an English Tudor-style home in the established Kingsway area of Etobicoke and over budget again. “It was an estate sale so it was a bit of a windfall,” says Peter. “An older lady lived there on her own for 15 years or more so it was well kept but dated. The basement was unfinished so I decided to raise the ceiling level and create a great room. I also decided to add heated flooring and then had to replace the boiler. “Always be prepared for a few surprise along the way,” smiles Peter. “I was about $15,000 over budget, but it was worth it! That family room was a show stopper!” Peter bought the Kingsway house in 2008 for $680,000 and sold it in January 2010 for $960,000.  And that was in a tough economy!  “I’m the first one to say yes, jump into this, but realize it’s not that easy,” says Peter. “I only recommend doing this if you are truly passionate about getting down and dirty, doing a lot of the work yourself, or if you already have a contractor you know and can trust to do the work. Do your homework and know the cost of things. This is an investment where you want to buy low and sell high. Those who are making money ‘flipping’ are holding on to the houses for a bit. Be prepared to live in the house for awhile or just sit on it until the market is right.”  My financial planner couldn’t have put it any better. At age 41, Peter is on the move again, searching for the next big flip—perhaps for Season 3. For more information visit www.HGTV.ca/hometoflip. GL	Above Photo by Stephen Uhraney BEFORE AFTER