Home Depot Financing/Savings for Flip

7 Replies

I just started a flip in West Chester OH and am looking at my best option for purchasing materials from home depot.  I plan on getting Lifeproof flooring, doors, vanities, and carpet from home depot.  I currently have a home depot credit card, which is great because they offer 0% financing for 6 months on purchases above $299.  Is there a different or better option that people have used at Home Depot that may allow for cheaper/contractor pricing that i may be eligible for?  I know i can speak with home depot directly about my options, but I'm just looking for others experiences.  Thanks

@James Back I hope you're not hiring Home Depot to install those products. You'll find a better price by searching for a local contactor, vetting them, and letting them purchase the materials. Unless you have connections or find a resale/wholesaling warehouse you won't get a better price. Check out the countertop section if you don't believe me. The price per linear foot + labor/fees at Lowes/Home Depot is sky high compared to contactors who do that work for a living. 

I have a Lowes card and utilize the 5% off at checkout but it's only for projects I do my self. If you're remodeling an entire property I'd really consider subcontracting each project to local guys. I found a few contractors by connecting with investors in BP. We have a great community here so take advantage of it. 

@Jaron Walling the only thing I was planning on using HD labor on was carpet, the local guys I've found have been about the same price.  I am going to install vinyl plank myself.  I will try to make some connections on here and see if I can find any local people.  Thanks for the response!

Originally posted by @Evan Polaski :

@James Back, we prefer McCabe Lumber in Loveland.  Their pricing in general is better, and their selection is better.  And they have actual pros that will help source product, get it ordered and arrange delivery.

 I appreciate the response.  I will go check them out this weekend!  Thanks

@James Back I am not in OH, I am in Philadelphia area, but I use the HD consumer card quite a bit for the 0% financing. Depending on the scope of the work, 6 months can be tight though, and make sure you pay it within the promo period because otherwise they charge you all of the interest back to the purchase date. 

Keep an eye out for their offers. They often do 12 or even 24 month financing. You can always ask them at the pro desk about that as well. 

Make sure you sign up for pro xtra. They do give some every day discounts and if you buy quite a bit they start giving you gift cards. If you are a member of NREIA, make sure you attach your membership to the pro xtra account. Theoretically you get a 2% rebate gift card twice a year, though I find that very inconsistent and I often have to ask for the rebate card. 

If you are a pro member, you can go to the pro desk and ask them to put your order through the "bid room". Not positive what the calculation is but sometimes you can save a few hundred dollars. Minimum order for the bid room is $1500 last I checked. You can add to the same "bid" for the the next 7 days after you open it. I believe that the bigger your total "bid" is the more discounts they will extend you, so it benefits you to buy as much of your materials as possible at the beginning of the job. 

Combine the bid room with your 0% financing and you can get a nice discount on materials and not pay for them until the job is done. 

I wish more supply houses were able to use programs like this, because I would much rather buy from them, but the programs above make it almost silly not to buy from HD. Combine that with the online access to receipts and everything and it takes out a lot of the headaches. HD has gotten it pretty well figured out. 

I have had very little positive with the bid room.  I believe because I have a little of a lot of different items for the flips we do.  So I have gotten a few bucks off this or that but not worth purchasing all at once or not shopping best prices.

We used a Home Depot project loan for our very first flip. Basically, it was a $10k loan with zero interest for 6 months. We waited until later in the remodel when we just had the big ticket items left to buy (flooring, cabinets, counter tops, appliances) and used the loan for these purchases. This allowed us to pay it off after the house sold and before interest kicked in. But this was in 2018 when appraisals and closings were much quicker. So, for that project, it worked well. However, what I didn't think about at the time is that unlike a credit card or revolving line of credit, this loan would be closed when paid off and we'd have to open a new one. Each time you do that results in a hard pull on your credit and therefore a negative mark that stays on your credit score for 2 years! I don't regret getting creative with financing (even if it meant taking out loans) because that's what it took for us to get started. That said, I wouldn't do a project loan again. As for better pricing from big box stores, we've found Lowe's to be much more accommodating than HD. In fact, I was ordering a garage door there and the guy helping me asked if we had other purchases to make. When I showed him my list he called in the department manager who ran my whole shopping list through their pro quote system and I ended up saving about 18%, which was worth it to me. I got everything ordered at once, the discount applied to the entire order and I didn't even have to ask for it. HD employees just shrug and say 'we have pro Xtra. You get discounts on paint and stuff like that once in a while.' Meh.