Zillow wasn’t fixing them up, though. They were putting minimal-effort, superficial changes with zero care or actual investment, and then resisting for a higher price.
People who flip houses don't put in more money than they need to, that's a tautology. It still adds value to the market.
"Scalping" makes zero sense in this context. Scalping exploits ticket mispricing and asymmetrical access to the market (waiting in line). Houses are bought at auction; you can't "scalp" at an auction. Try it at Christie's sometime.
