Thread: Flipping houses

I'd imagine it would be really easy if you had some in with a contractor or you knew a ton about construction, a good chunk of change would help too.

Its really not that difficult. The idea is to buy houses that are either somewhat distressed cosmetically, or those that are being sold by an owner who is in a rush (i.e. military transfer), financially (i.e. foreclosure/tax leins, etc.) In most cases, or at least from what I've seen, the idea is to make sure the home is structuraly sound, ad some inexpensive interior embellishments such as paint or carpet, jack the price up an sell the joker.
As cheesy as it might seem, the Carlton Sheets course isn't a bad program to follow.

Andre the Giant once flipped over a car with four people in it. You'd have to be pretty strong to flip over a house.

Originally Posted by DaMayor

Its really not that difficult. The idea is to buy houses that are either somewhat distressed cosmetically, or those that are being sold by an owner who is in a rush (i.e. military transfer), financially (i.e. foreclosure/tax leins, etc.) In most cases, or at least from what I've seen, the idea is to make sure the home is structuraly sound, ad some inexpensive interior embellishments such as paint or carpet, jack the price up an sell the joker.
As cheesy as it might seem, the Carlton Sheets course isn't a bad program to follow.

My dad does it on the side in a completely different way. Northern Virginia is one of the fastest growing area's in America, but the growth peakd a few years ago. Now the bubble is still expanding south and west. My dad will buy a house thats right on the bubble, fix any easy cosmetics, and just sit on it before sale for 6 months or so. Not hard, he flips an excellent percentage on them too.

Originally Posted by joesmooth20

Anyone do this for a living or on the side? I've been watch a lot of it on A&E, I seems like good living after you get established. I know there is a lot more to it than it looks like.

just kinda wondering if anyone has some personal experience with doing this?

I don't think you're referring to "flipping," I think you're referring to refurbing and then selling.

It depends on the market you are in.

If it's your first time you need a mentor who is *now* successfully doing it.

Read, read, read.

Helps if you know about houses/constructions/upgrades/remodeling.

Use contractors after checking several references if you are refurbing/upgrading and then putting it on the market.

Know you market where you live like the back of your hand.

I have a friend who does it and does very well. He also has a wife who is a real estate agent, which helps to know where to buy, etc.
How succesfull you are depends on the market and how fast you can get contractors to do the work.
You will lose your ass on some deals...just part of it.

One of our clients does this, he adds solar water heating and sometimes electricity to them to make it even more attractive

Originally Posted by maniclion

One of our clients does this, he adds solar water heating and sometimes electricity to them to make it even more attractive

Solar water heating sounds awful. How could it store enough energy for hot water for say 3 days? My point being say you get a few days of rian... after a couple days wouldn't you be completely out of hot water, maybe even sooner?

Originally Posted by goandykid

Solar water heating sounds awful. How could it store enough energy for hot water for say 3 days? My point being say you get a few days of rian... after a couple days wouldn't you be completely out of hot water, maybe even sooner?

Thats what your electric or gas backup system is for. But the other days you get hot water from the sun for free and in Hawaii the sun shines alot.

Originally Posted by maniclion

Thats what your electric or gas backup system is for. But the other days you get hot water from the sun for free and in Hawaii the sun shines alot.

Have I mentioned that you suck?

Originally Posted by maniclion

One of our clients does this, he adds solar water heating and sometimes electricity to them to make it even more attractive

Could he add this to doublebase? Any little bit would help.

I thought about getting into tax deeds, probably not this year though.

Originally Posted by Mudge

I thought about getting into tax deeds, probably not this year though.

I'm not sure how much I believe it, but everyone keeps talking about the housing market going bust. If this is true, I'd wait until just after that happens.