What is house flipping, and how is it related to betting?

There are countless people on the planet that make a living from real estate. You may know someone who works in that field, and if you do not you have probably seen television programmes about them. These individuals earn income by “flipping a house”, a concept which has similarities to sports betting.

Flipping a house is the phenomenon whereby a buyer purchases a piece of property at a low price, before undertaking renovations to increase its value. He or she then sells for a profit and moves onto the next house. Experts always look for particular characteristics when identifying houses that may bring them a significant profit margin. These include the asking price, the location, the likely cost of renovations and the predicted value of the property once those are complete.

On the face of it, this has very little do with sports betting. However, dig a little deeper and some shared patterns begin to emerge.

For starters, sports bettors are also interested in finding things that are underpriced. Experienced gamblers are adept at identifying such odds via a list of criteria they apply across the board. They too are looking for a return on their initial investment as they seek to make a profit, considering factors such as form, injuries and tactical issues before placing their bet. In both disciplines, it is all about the price of entry and the potential profit an investment might return.

It is one thing to identify these similarities but it is another entirely to apply them to sports betting in the real world. For instance, some bettors fail to adopt the same mindset and instead simply bet on teams who others do not bet on – the equivalent of that would be house flippers asking random strangers which property they would buy and then purchasing one which received few votes. It does not make much sense, yet many bettors continue to operate in this misguided manner.

Location is very important for people looking to flip houses. A property may be run-down and in need of some tender love and care, but if it is based in a desirable area it could be sold for a high price in the future. More experienced house flippers will look to identify neighbourhoods before they become desirable, hoping to buy properties while they are cheap and then waiting for the area to increase in popularity.

There is also an equivalent for this in sports betting. Some punters will bet on out-of-form teams against in-form teams, hoping to take advantage of favourable odds in the search for a profit. Buying low should not be disregarded, especially as it as an accepted part of the practice of house flipping.

Treating sports betting as a completely separate activity is not always helpful. When you take a step back, you realise that the same principles apply whether you are buying or selling property, shoes, gadgets or sports teams in a betting market.

The objective is finding a price which is better than market value, and this is something sports bettors should focus on more than they currently do. If you can work that into your betting, you will be in a much stronger position in the long-term.