House flipping in west suburban Bellwood is so common that nearly one in four homes sold in the community was purchased, rehabbed, and resold within a 12-month period. According to the Q1 2017 U.S. Home Flipping Report released by Attom Data Solutions, the community saw the highest flipping rate of 23.3 percent in Q1 2017 for the Chicago area.

In the first three months of the year, 14 of 60 home sales in Bellwood were flipped homes. The return on investment for Bellwood home flippers was about 150 percent or a gross profit of about $96,000.

The community outpaced the entire Chicago area for home flips sold as the only town with more than 20 percent of its home sales share comprised of fast rehabs. In the entire Chicago area, 5.3 percent of first quarter home sales were flips, which is down from 5.9 percent reported last year.

One big draw to Bellwood is the high rate of foreclosures, making it more accessible for buyers to get a home for a reasonable price and have enough funds to complete a rehab. On average, it took flippers about 188 days to complete the project.

Country Club Hills also saw a high rate — 19 percent — of home flips sold during the first three months of the year.