What are the Pros and Cons of "flipping" properties?

Question

i'm really interested to do it and have 200K but i wanna inform myself before i do.

Answer 1

If this is something you are truly interested in then you need to be a professional and read up yourself. Research market trends, fixtures you can add to the home (Or remove) that will add value and maximize profit. This is not the proper means to your end looking for answers on this forum. Its harder to fail when you know all the possibilities of what can go wrong. Asking broad, open questions on a forum will not help.

Answer 2

If you do not have any experience in construction, make friends with someone who is. Or hire a contractor to consult you on making a decision. There are so many different factors that go into making a decision. For instance if a property just needs to be gutted out and all of the cosmetic work and fixtures need to be reinstalled, and the price of the house is close to half the price of the comparable houses in the neighborhood, then you can easily sell it and make a profit.

The quickest and most profitable way of flipping properties is to buy it cheap enough to be able to renovate it and sell it for less than the market value. So if you buy a house in a neighborhood where the average price is $310,000, a house less than $250,000 might be a good investment. If there is no major structural damage and you can renovate it for $20,000 and sell it for $295,000 and walk away with $15,000 you will make out pretty good.

That might not be much from a relative perspective but not many people make $15,000 in 6 months, let alone in a couple of months.

Answer 3

Depending on the housing market you could end up with the mortgage and payments for the whole time you have it on the market so make sure you over budget the costs during the listing period.Then make sure you spend a little more to get mid to higher grade materials so that it doesn't look cheap. When you are done market the property every way possible including internet, realtors, signs and open houses. Don't think about flipping a house if the market is flooded with a lot of new houses. It's har d to compete a remodeled house to a house built last year.

Answer 4

Listen... you can flip and still make money doing it in a down market.

Firstly, know the market. Right now, the market is in the toilet, but I can tell you that small low maintenance and low cost homes are selling right now. A lot of empty nesters are looking to reduce their costs. Secondly, people are always in the market for a home. The reason why the bubble burst was because of major price corrections due to the overheated housing market. People were willing to pay rediculous prices for homes and now can't offload them because of losing their investment. Also, another thing in your favor is low interest rates. That still makes buying a home attractive.

If you want to flip, I would invest in a really cheap and small 2-3 bedroom home max. Make sure it is a real fixer-upper. Put sweat equity into it and sell it for well below market rates. It won't be easy at all, but if you can do that you will sell your home and make a decent profit.

Answer 5

You're too late for the party. Forget it altogether. Someone posted in 2 to 4 years maybe. If history repeats itself it will be a lot longer before flipping becomes a viable strategy again. In most markets the historical low is 60 percent of the high. We're nowhere near that yet. I think this time it will be less than that. Find another way to invest. And you're smart to try to learn first.
Learn about stocks and bonds and mutual funds. They're good investments and if you want to get into real estate later, they're liquid and you can invest the proceeds.

Answer 6

Now is the best time to do it! It's a buyers market out there, and by the time you are done with your first house - it will be a great time to sell due to tax return checks arriving in the mail!

Flipping houses is a great profession to be in. I currently flip houses for a living, and have had a blast making hundred's of thousands of dollars. The key is to do as much work as you can on your own.

Did you know that you can make $40,000 + on a house, and never even own it?

Take a look at my website - I just put it online last month -

Please realize that Flipping Houses is not a "Get Rich Quick" Scam!

Do as much research as possible before starting on your first flip -

http://www.learntofliphouses.com

Kind Regards and Good Luck!

Adam Monforton

Answer 7

Flipping can make a lot of money quickly. And, you don't have to put your whole $200K down. Use a 20% down payment, finance the rest, then flip.

Simple. Then why doesn't everyone do it?

Right now, thousands of people who wanted to flip properties are sitting on real estate that they can't sell, much less at a profit.

The recent downturn in the real estate market has made a lot of people lose money.

Moral: don't invest any money that you can't afford to lose.

Answer 8

Make sure you have the right people around you, otherwise it could be a moneypit.

The right people means having a project manager, someone who does everything you don't want to do.

Then general contractor and this guy is mucho important. Good ones can cause you headaches, bad ones can cause you to lose your money.

The general contractor SHOULD know the best people to work for you but may not. You need workmen who will stick to the job, know what they need to do and do it in record time without wasting your money.

Look for a partner who has experience. What we see on TV are the success stories. We never see anyone who doesn't make it, who isn't able to sell his flip.

Be careful.

Answer 9

Pros making money
Cons It's alot of work, and you can not make as much profit as you think.

Watch the show "Flip that House" it shows some cool examples of how tough it gets.

Answer 10

I wouldn't do it right now.

The market is bad. Everyone's trying to sell their house. And housing prices are going down.

Wait like maybe 2-4 years, it'll bottom out and people will start buying them again.