Florida Flipper Redux

"I love the smell of cat urine in the morning. It smells like...victory."

Exactly four years ago, the Palm Beach Post's Jeff Ostrowski penned a cautionary tale about real estate speculators and warned, "One-third of Palm Beach County's housing market is fueled by investors and second-home buyers — a trend some say can't last." Umm, it didn't, but some Floridians in Broward and Palm Beach County won't let the real estate apocalypse of the past four years deter their conviction that distressed properties--especially in low income neighborhoods--are still a great short-term investment. Eight anxious flippers climb aboard the Foreclosure Express and discover a rainbow of Florida flip fruit flavors: orange eviction signs, blue flapping tarps, gold-painted fireplaces and brown ceiling spots. But unlike 2005, this time the flippers are well-financed and much more risk averse. For instance, one mother-daughter team living on Social Security checks, articulate their in-depth analysis for a successful flip: "When you smell mold or something like cat urine, it means you can make money from the property."