I am considering flipping houses, I know it takes a lot of time, money and skill?

Question

but does anyone know or have experience with this field and can give me any tips??? Do you think it would be a waste of time or something worth pursuing?

Answer 1

I have flipped properties and currently own rentals. Flipping is really good if you have a good system in place for it. If you are handy and can do most of the work yourself, might be a good idea. Also depends on your location as well. From my standpoint (I am also a real estate agent and a real estate investor) I don't feel the current market is suitable for flipping. Because of the current market, I feel it is better to buy property and rent them out.

However, if you want to do this, here are my suggestions....
1)Find a real estate agent that is willing to work with you. Many agents will not want to have you as their client because of number 2....
2)Always lowball your offers..... i must have made about 30 offers (And one annoyed agent) before I got one accepted. Make sure you have your agent do a comparative market analysis to compare the price of your target home to all the others. You want to make about a $15000 profit for it to be worth your time.
3)Have an inspection of that home done. If there is structural problems like insect damage, RUN AWAY.... it will cost too much to fix.
4)Contractors..... they suck but are necessary. Always keep on your contractors and make sure they stick to their timeline. NEVER LET THEM PUSH YOU AROUND! If they say they will get the work done in a certain time, get it IN WRITING! Also, don't assume they'll do a job. It HAS to be in writing. Time will cost you money! The idea to to buy, fix, and then sell in the month. Anything longer than 2 months max will eat into your profits.
5)Have the right people to help you. You need a good agent, contractor, and financier.

Well, these are a few of the things to help you out. Hope this helps you get your feet wet and good luck.

Answer 2

Most flippers lose their asses. Flipping is usually done on credit. It's like putting your life savings on a craps table and rolling the dice. If you can't afford to lose, you can't afford to play.

Unless you know how to do construction, or have someone who does, you'd be better off buying and selling on eBay. Seriously. You can't estimate a budget if you don't know what materials are required or how much they cost.

All of your profit is made when you buy the house, not when you sell it. That means that you paid under market value for the property, estimated the improvement costs correctly, and gaged the resale value and market correctly. This takes skill and experience. Buyers don't care how much work you put into something if it's priced too high.

BTW, the real estate market is cooling now. The days of a guaranteed profit are over. My brother has been doing it for 15 years in Florida. He makes $250,000 a year flipping a dozen houses. If you plan to retire on your first house, you're going to get burned. Nickels and dimes add up. He puts almost nothing into the houses and sells within two weeks. He earns about 10 to 20 thousand on each and dumps them quick. No big remodels like you see on tv.

Answer 3

Flipping properties is still a pretty good way of earning a living. The first thing you might want to do is go to a book store and purchase a couple of books on flipping properties. There are some good one out there with the current trends and newest theories.

You might also purchase one of the midnight TV guru's program, they have some good scripts as well as a few proven forms that you will find very valuable. Read them for the information they contain. Some will be extremely helpful, especially the scripts and what to tell a potential client. They will also tell you a little about the percentage that you need to purchase a property for in order to make a profit.

As far as money is concerned, you need to attract some investors if you don't have any money. Tell them you are sort of new at flipping properties and you intend to earn you as well as them a profit. Most investors of this sort get a split of 50/50, but you might have to give a little more when you first start out. You can place ads in your local newspapers as well as on bulletin boards you find in super markets as well as any throw away literature. Be leery of those that might want to take over your project because of your inexperience or age.

You might also see if there is a real estate investment group in your community that you might join. They would be very helpful to you.

The main thing is read all the books that you can from purchasing them or reading them from the library, as well as at least one of the TV guru's program.

Flipping properties is not easy, but you can take the mystery out of it by educating yourself with books and listening to others.

I hope this has been of some use to you, good luck.

"FIGHT ON"

Answer 4

My dad and his buddy back in the 70s when it was profitable to do so would buy the old fixer upper when they found a deal...spend 6 months or so fixing it up and renovating it then selling it again. They would make a fairly good profit flipping them over that way, but then a lot of people were doing that and housing kept going up and up and up...so government put a stop to it and slammed capital gains tax. Basically if you re-sold a house with (I forget if it was one year or two or three) they took a really huge chunk on taxes.

You have to really know the market trends too. Houses often rise, then peak, then fall again...if you buy high you are really screwed...I know people who bought at $250,000 then the following year their houses plummeted to under $200,000 in value...and never rose to that 250 again until about 10 years later...so many sold and lost money if they had to move for business or whatever.

It's a risk. Buy and rent if you can...at least someone else is paying it off for you...or live in part and rent part if you need a place to live.

Answer 5

Fixing up properties and reselling them at market value is called "rehabbing" properties. Flipping (or wholesaling) properties is another thing entirely. A "flipper" gets a house under contract and sells (assigns) the contract for a fee or finds another buyer(usually a rehab investor) and closes both transactions at the same time(double closing). Flipping takes time and negotiating skills and a fair knowledge of real estate as well as a pretty good idea of what a rehab investor will pay for a property. It is not as cash intensive or credit dependant as rehabbing. For this reason, many new investors start this way. Check out Attorney William Bronchick's site www.legalwiz.com He has many good articles on the subject and sells one of the better books on the topic.

Answer 6

i think Kenneth c has the best guidance. i am a mortgage broker and i work with investors all across the united states. what i would caution you about is the zones you are buying the property. of course you start looking locally and then you can visit or repair the property. if the market is slow you better have an exit strategy in place to keep the mortgage paid. there are go zones and from the panhandle in Florida to Alabama is 'hot' and property is moving at a nice clip. commercial is also hot right now and that is my main concentration. if you want any other information email [e-mail]

Answer 7

It can be very profittable. There are many things to consider. Make sure the house has potential by being the worst house in a great neighborhood. Location, location, location. Also before you purchase go in with a contractor and get the estimated costs of the improvements you want. Do a comparable search of homes sold and see what your profit should be. If it all adds up, go for it. http://www.onlineinvestigations.info

Answer 8

Flipping house are good when prices are rising. In the current environment, house prices are falling due to overexcess of homes on the market now. Wait until the bottom falls out of the housing market before you start (sometime next year).

Answer 9

http://www.breakingbubble.com/index.htm

Need I say more. Good for it no housing are selling anyways.