Looked at a house today that my partner and I really liked, everything seemed fine although obviously would have an inspection if we get to that point.
What’s giving me pause is that 2 consecutive owners have bought and sold in under a year. House was owned 2016 – 2024. Someone bought to 2024 and then listed it 8 months later in 2025. The person that bought it in 2025 is now listing it again 8 months later in 2026.
I’m thinking this could maybe be a coincidence but seems like a red flag?
How big of a red flag is 2 consecutive owners selling within 8 months?
byu/Joel_Hirschorrn inRealEstate
Posted by Joel_Hirschorrn
31 Comments
Find out why they are selling. A good Agent can help. And always get an inspection. Always.
Big red flag imo – two flips that quick usually means there’s something seriously wrong that only shows up after living there a while
In my case, my wife can’t make up her damn mind where she wants to live.
Huge. Absolutely huge. I wouldn’t even entertain it. It was likely a flipper who did a shit tier flip. Tons of small issues starting to pile up from a poor flip.
What is the selling price for each of those three sales?
Haunted.
Is it a bad neighbor somewhere close perhaps?
One could be a divorce. Surprisingly a lot of people buy a house right before a breakup/divorce. Same with having a baby or taking a vacation.
But 2? I’m gonna go with ghost, awful neighbor or big issues with the house.
I thought this was a car and I was gonna tell you to walk away. But a house? This is way beyond a flag, this is Vegas level neon with skull and bones telling you to run.
It would be a reg flag for me. If you like it, knock on a few doors and talk to the neighbors.
Both of those owners are willing to lose **a lot** of money to get rid of this.
One owner could be unfortunate life circumstances. Two immediately is playing the USSR national anthem in your face.
Is it possible there’s some huge environmental QOL issue outside of the house, like incredibly noisy overnight cargo train tracks or something stinky/dangerous in the area or on a main street people aren’t considering until they live there?
I wouldn’t be convinced the problem has to be the house so just an inspection isn’t enough for me
I would drive by at random times maybe weekend nights too and see if neighbors are being loud
My brother’s gf bought a house that was near a farm. All good. Turns out the listing and the sale went through in the annual three week window where the farm cleaned out the sheds to make way for the following year’s batch of pigs.
Within a week of moving in the smell was overpowering. She sold it the same week the following year, using the same agent.
Carefully, OP – there’s some fuckery going down…
I bought and sold a house within a year. I just got out of a relationship then got into a new one. The previous owner also was in a similar situation. Could be a coincidence, but definitely get a thorough inspection.
Contact the previous previous owner. Current seller won’t give you the truth, but the people before them have nothing to lose.
Or there could a rooster next door that will wake you up at dawn every morning.
Could be a red flag. I am interested in the price with each sale. Did it go up exponentially? Go down?
Any chance of tracking down the previous owner?
Big red flag.
Ask the neighbors if they think there is an issue with the house.
Check legal files. Our house was sold 8 months later but it was a divorce and assault. We scored. Two would be weird though. Haunted? Neighbors from hell?
Imo not enough information to say.
Agents sometimes buy houses from dealers on the cheap and they can change hands. Flippers/investors run out of money. People get in over their head. Need more info. Has the price changed? Gone up or down? Can you seen any significant changes in the time the first owned acquired it to second owner listing it? (Google st. view). Are there pictures that we, the wise armchair experts of reddit can pick over to give you a better idea?
This happened with our house. There was a 20 year owner and back to back 8 month owners. The first moved here to be close to family, then all 4 family members in the area died in separate events so they sold. The family that bought the house before is did so at the start of COVID, but didn’t want their family to play with other kids and potentially get such so they left because the neighborhood was full of kids and it made their kids sad seeing others play.
Hard to imagine you even have to ask the question.
I’m currently under contract on a house with a very similar situation. The second owner died ( not in the house), the 3rd owners, got pregnant and wanted to move closer to the family. I feel like it really depends on the reasoning.
Definitely warrants a harder look at the whole. This includes neighborhood facotrs, flight paths, night time activity in the area. Think outside the box because there are many things that can make a house undesirable that are revealed after living there but have nothing to do with the house itself.
Also, it might be haunted.
It’s a gamble. My dad bought a house and then a few months later found out he had pancreatic cancer. He only lived three months after that and his wife had to end up selling because she couldn’t afford it. That house went through 2 owners in the same year.
Based on the buy and sell prices it looks more like coincidence than poltergeists or a biker gang living next door.
It’s a ghost for sure
I would ask before passing if you think might be the right house. I have a neighbor that we all bought together in a neighborhood for new builds. They had a third baby so sold two years ago for a bigger home. The first person that bought it then got a promotion and relocated. So they sold after about a year. The second came down for work. Not from here and no family. They accidentally got pregnant with another baby (they weren’t trying). With no family or anything near they decided to move back closer to family for help with the baby. It’s been about the same time frame as you are stating. In fact are you looking at my neighbors house? (Kidding…kinda)
Look up the previous property owners and check for them on social media. Maybe they moved out of town for a job, divorce etc.
Could be something wrong with it, so look closely. Doubtful it’s a condition thing because they do have an obligation to disclose, even though that’s not a guarantee. But unlike cars for example, people don’t typically find a major problem with the house and think they can just get away with it to sell it off. Especially not twice. Although it’s possible.
But other things like road traffic or noise from an airport or railroad or smells from a pig farm or something like that are worth looking into. But I would also look at price. If they were publicly listed you can look up history with your agent and see how it was listed and condition and such .
Is it possible it was in really rough condition and somebody bought it and got it barely financiable and sold it, and then another person bought it in that condition and improved it further and sold it? Or is it possible that somebody just got a cheap deal on it and flipped it for a quick profit, and then somebody else did the same ?
If it was flipped for profit twice, that would be a good indication that you want to have a very good inspection and make sure they did quality work or that it’s not overpriced. But it’s possible that it could pass through a couple of hands with investors. But that tells you something.
On the other hand, if it was bought for market value and sold for a loss at the same value but with all the costs involved, and that happened twice, it might be coincidence and they both had personal issues, or it might mean there was something that once they lived there they decided they couldn’t tolerate and took the loss.
At any rate, you can ask why they’re selling and see what answer you get. And you should definitely be on your guard, but it might be fine.