Santa Maria Fix & Flip, a Model of Efficiency
Experienced investors know that time is money when it comes to fix-and-flips… this means fast time to market, short marketing periods, and choosing the right buyer who can perform. The investor behind this Santa Maria fix-and-flip understands these concepts well—they had the property on the market within 42 days, priced it correctly, received an offer that went pending in 5 days at list price, and closed with the first buyer in less than 90 days from start to finish.
When it comes to getting the property on the market quickly, focus on the following:
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Improve high-value areas of the property like kitchens, bathrooms, paint, and flooring—while avoiding over-customization.
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Use suppliers, contractors, and materials that you’re familiar with and that are readily available.
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Stick with neutral colors to appeal to the widest buyer pool.
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Know your local market—don’t over-improve if it’s not required. Find comparable sales in the neighborhood and match the quality of those finishes to hit your target sales price.
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Repurpose or refinish items when possible to save both time and money.
Some tips for improving marketing times:
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Invest in professional photography.
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Consider affordable professional staging.
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Price the property correctly. Overpricing can lead to a stale listing, reducing your final sales price if you miss the initial marketing momentum.
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Hire a competent, responsive, and knowledgeable agent.
And finally, tips for finding the right buyer:
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Always make sure the buyer is prequalified; cross-qualify when possible.
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As an investor, ensure your agent speaks with both the buyer’s lender and agent to confirm the buyer is qualified and committed.
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Negotiate firmly but fairly, and treat the buyer the way you’d want to be treated.
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Hold agents and lenders accountable to timelines—and know when to move on if your first-choice buyer can’t or won’t perform.
While all of this advice may seem like common knowledge, executing it well is often not as simple as it sounds. It takes discipline to follow this game plan efficiently and achieve these type of results.
Here are the loan highlights:
-Purchase Price: $450,000
-Lantzman Lending Loan: $405,000
-Purchase Date: Jan 2025
-Sale Time: Less than 3 months! Sold in March of 2025
Santa Barbara County real estate market update:
What’s the latest in the Santa Barbara real estate market?
As of February 2025, San Barbara County’s housing market appears very strong with the median home price at record high levels, as you can see from the graph below, the median home price has been on the rise for the past few months and currently sits at $1.375M. For context, the previous high in the past 5 years was $1.2M in April of 2024. Keep in mind that Santa Barbara tends to be fairly volatile due to the relatively low volume of sales and the median home price can swing wildly from month to month. However, other sales metrics are also showing a robust market in Santa Barbara with marketing times coming in at 18 days which was cut in half from the January numbers, and 3.6 months worth of inventory available that is down considerably from winter months. There are some considerable economic headwinds in the markets right now with political changes shocking the markets, so we will keep our eyes on the numbers and update our investors regularly.
At Lantzman Lending, we help investors navigate the real estate market with reliable lending to get your next investment closed quickly. Opportunities could be on the rise coming into the usually active spring markets. Also, major economic policy changes with the current administration will certainly cause some market reactions, and this could create real estate opportunities regardless of the direction.
📞 Let’s talk strategy — lantzmanlending.com
Phone: (858) 720-0229
Email: info@lantzmanlending.com
