During last year’s quarantine for the COVID-19 pandemic, she had more time to herself to indulge in watching more HGTV. There wasn’t much to do or anywhere to go. It was the perfect time to binge her favorite shows.
One Sunday afternoon, while watching the network, she thought it would be cool to play a real estate board game about flipping houses. She went to Amazon and didn’t see anything. She continued looking on other websites, and still nothing.
That’s when the idea came to her that she could make her own game. Her “Flip That House Board Game” invention was born.
Flip That House Board Game is an educational game that explains the process of flipping houses, which means buying and reselling a home for profit after remodeling it. It includes about 50 common real estate and financial terms, including mortgage, credit score, escrow, and foreclosure.
She began drawing and sketching how she wants the game to look and how to play it.
Then, she sent her sketches to a graphic designer to professionally design it. After getting it back from the designer and sending it to the printer, she shipped it off for the official prototype to be created.
Right now, the game is still in progress. It's sitting with a major toy and game company for further consideration and a potential licensing deal.
Focus groups are using it to provide constructive feedback and potential improvements.
Mike Jackson, host of HGTV’s “Married to Real Estate” with his wife Egypt Sherrod and a host and judge on other shows on the network, is one of the people participating in a focus group.
This summer, Taylor pitched the game virtually to Shark Tank. A yes or no hasn’t been confirmed yet by the show.
Taylor said she felt it was important to include the terms and definitions in the game because she remembers not knowing them when she was a first-time homebuyer.
Other information included in the game are hard money loans, opportunity zones, titles, housing and urban development and solar-powered energy.
The game begins with $100,000 in cash from a flip. At that moment, the flipper can continue to gain assets and equity moving toward a million dollars, or they can lose while competing with other flippers.
It's primarily focused on real estate investing. A flipper can buy a distressed property, put money in it and flip it for profit. Taylor said she learned about after repair value (ARV), which estimates how profitable a property will be after repairs. An example she used was flipping for $30,000, and after you repay it, it's worth $95,000.
She hopes the game can be used as a tool to instill generational wealth and encourage youth to enter the real estate business.
“I want our readers to know that this is a gamechanger,” she said. “This is something they wanna have for their children, grandchildren, and families. I would love to have their support, and I’m looking forward to sharing even greater news in the not-so-distant future about it going national.”
Pre-orders are available at http://flipthathouseboardgame.com/. Taylor said she anticipates the game being in full production by January 2022.