How long do you need to own a house to turn a profit?

Question

i plan to buy a house in the next few months but may be selling in early 09. I will repaint, add dishwasher, landscape, and other minor fixing. Should i worry about loosing money when i sell?

Answer 1

Not enough info to guess. It depends on what happens with your local market, mortgage rates, points, closing costs, etc.

Answer 2

We've sold homes for a profit within 24 hours of purchasing them, so there's no minimum time frame. The key is in buying low and selling for a profit. Since you're doing a long-term fixer project think in terms of Purchase Price (Acquisition Cost) + cost of improvements (Cost to Change) + Profit = Sale price. If you get the property at a low enough price to make your planned improvements and a profit when you sell fine. Ask your Realtor to advise you on market conditions and projections for the next 2 years (area employment, industry, economic development, etc) and which improvements are money makers and which are not in your area. If you buy right, you'll be almost guaranteed not to loose money. We've made many of these type of investments and even when we paid over the asking price, we still made money. You can too!

Answer 3

It depends on the trend of your local market...if houses are bieng bought up like crazy, you probably stand to make a few bucks.

There's no dead set rule on how long you should own before you sell..as long as you own the house, free and clear, you can pretty much do what you want.

You could make a few calls to your local real estate agencies, and get a few quotes..or the more simple, and often truthful way to predict a home's selling value, ask some of the neighbors what thier houses were bought for, and compare prices with houses bieng sold that are relatively close to yours.

Answer 4

this an excellent time to buy a fixer upper as long as you provide most of the labor and don't have to pay contractors...by 2009 the market should be a lot better but i would wait until 2011 to be more realistic..there is a world wide depression and war going on and you must be more realistic if you expect to turn your money.
Good Luck..it sounds like a good plan..

Answer 5

you will earn a decent return if you invest now and sell in 09"