Since her seventh grade year and even now as a junior, Lexie Heath has been flipping homes. What looks like an inhabitable shack on the outside is actually full of potential to Heath and her family. In other words, the team buys an outdated home, remodels it and quickly resells the refurbished house. 

“It’s taking a house and updating it to a better standard. A lot of what we do is restoring, so if [we] take a house from the 1920s, [we] try to keep as much of it original as we can,” Heath said. 

Heath’s mother, Pennie Heath, has been the driving force behind the house flipping. She and Heath’s step-father, Mark Giancola, have taken the lead but receive help from Heath and her siblings as well as their grandparents on occasion. With a knack for art and design, Heath is able to provide insightful input for the staging part of the process. 

“My mom always involved us in decisions, so then we’d go and help paint or she’d give us design options that she’s trying to choose between, and we help her because me and all my siblings are very into art,”   Heath said. “We all have art backgrounds, and so with a lot of the interior design stuff, she’ll ask us like, ‘Which paint color looks better?’” 

Her mother was so enthralled with the practice that she pursued a real estate license alongside her daily occupation just to further her passion. Heath, however, did not share that same interest. 

“I didn’t really care. It was just like my mom and step-dad’s project, you know,” Heath said. “It’s weird … they’re just buying a house just to redo the kitchen. But, it made a lot of sense for my family because my mom has been so interested in houses my entire life. Like, I’ve moved endlessly through my life.” 

But, Heath was able to make the best of it and instead appreciates the company and amusement of working with her family. 

“Most of the stories are of just my mom and grandma, [for example], mixing concrete. It’s just these two [smaller] women mixing these giant buckets of concrete. They have a lot of fun out there, like they really enjoy doing it,” Heath said. 

In addition to watching her family bond, flipping houses has significantly taught Heath about home remodeling and real estate. In fact, her family kickstarted Part Two Properties, a limited liability company (LLC) that renovates properties for buyers around the world, creating several connections in the remodeling community. 

“[My mom and stepfather] have learned how to grout tile and do all these things that they never thought they would’ve done. I know so much more about houses [now] than I thought I would ever know,” Heath said. 

Heath’s mother and stepfather handle the more labor intensive part of house flipping, like the demolition stage where they remove tiling and entire countertops. As she has observed this  physically grueling task, she has noticed the physical repercussions it has on her family, making it her least favorite part of the process. But, Heath is able to exercise her artistic side, which has always been in her interests. 

“I’m mostly involved in finishing touches and design choices; that’s the main part [I] get involved in. It’s just like going in to fix up paint and figure out furniture,” Heath said. “I’m not involved in demolition at all or anything like that; it’s mainly just the small stuff, the small choices.”

That being said, house flipping is not what she sees herself doing in the future, but Heath is definitely grateful for the opportunities it’s provided her and her siblings so far. With the earnings from house flipping, she and her siblings have ample financial support to pursue their own interests. 

“We’re really fortunate to be able to do it in the first place, but it’s so exhausting. [Remodeling is] very physically exhausting, and I’m just not interested in most of it, but I help out when I can,” Heath said.