What is "flipping houses", and more importantly, how do you do it?

Question

O.K. my curiosity is piqued, what is this house flipping all about? Something tells me its a little more than buying low and selling high. Is this mortgage buying from banks? Am I on the right track? I would really like to know some specifics about this topic.

Answer 1

Most of the other answers did explain it well. However, you have more options than just flipping. You can choose to buy a house, live in it for two years as your primary home (better rates) and then sell it without paying any capital gains. You can also do as others said and rent it out or even do a lease-to-own. It is becoming harder and harder to find really good homes to flip because so many people are getting into it, but it still is possible. You should have a lot of time on your hands and be willing to put in a lot of "sweat equity", in other words, willing to do most of the work yourself to make more money.

Answer 2

It is basically buyinfg a house and selling it for a higher price latter, but not much latter. Some fix it up or remodel it. Also decorating the interior, just to give the house an image that people are more willing to buy it at a higher price. THis is considered a bad time to flip, but it is do able.

Answer 3

Flipping a house has many aspects; however, the main idea is to purchase a house that is undervalued, ie. needs work. Then quickly fix it up and get it back on the market, usually within a month or 2 of purchasing it.

The key is doing your renovations/repair quickly and cheaply. And have a plan in place with contractors/repairmen before you sign the paperwork, so you can start that very day fixing it up

Answer 4

You're correct. It's buying or controlling property in which you can turn around and sell at a higher price.

There's a lot of aspects and methods in achieving this. Just start reading at your local bookstore under the real estate investing section. Here is a website with all aspects of real estate investing: www.reiclub.com

Regards

Answer 5

Usually when you flip a house you do some work on it to raise the value of it before selling it.

Answer 6

The latest trend in the market is investing in Foreclosures- more bang for your buck and then fixing them up and flipping.

Also, the market has subdued for selling atleast. So you might want to buy, fix up and hold--- and rent out the property.

here's a cool site: http://www.foreclosure.com

Answer 7

Buy a house you feel is undervalued and then maybe do some renovations. The hopefully sell it for more than you paid+whatever was spent on renovations etc.

Answer 8

You buy a house...fix it up a little bit, then sell it again, usually at a profit.

Answer 9

I could give you an answer of some sort, but i'd most likely be lying