I take issue with the cheap flips. This type of flipping is really only possible in a hot market where inspection contingencies are regularly waved. Cheap flips are basically robbing the community by lowering the quality of the housing stock and leaving future owners with higher maintenance costs. In a more balanced market, these houses would either drop in price or linger on the market until the owner did worthwhile improvements.
Granted plenty of mom and pop flippers are doing cheap flips in this market as well. Zillow was just jumping in on the action at a much larger scale. But if I was king for a day, I think I would pass a law that required inspection contingencies on all residential real estate transactions. And maybe some sort of escrow for undisclosed maintenance issues that occur in the first year or two after the sale.
It's actually even worse; a fresh coat of paint can truly hide actual problems. I've had that experience house shopping myself. I tended to shy away from places that smelled like paint, even though often they're painted for "good" reasons.
Hell, just last weekend I read a home inspection that specifically cited inability to assess interior and exterior wall cracking due to recent paint.
Granted plenty of mom and pop flippers are doing cheap flips in this market as well. Zillow was just jumping in on the action at a much larger scale. But if I was king for a day, I think I would pass a law that required inspection contingencies on all residential real estate transactions. And maybe some sort of escrow for undisclosed maintenance issues that occur in the first year or two after the sale.