Can You Flip Houses Without Money?

If there is a question that I get more often is “How do I flip houses without money?”

TV shows make it look like it’s very easy to flip houses without money but in reality it is not. While it is not easy, you can learn how to do it. I do it all the time. In fact, I hardly ever invest any of my money in most of my house flipping deals.

It is definitely much easier to flip houses when you have your own money especially if you are a beginner. But there are many ways that you can find funding sources to give you money for flipping houses.

Which Comes First? The Money Or The Deal?

There isn’t a wrong or right answer to this question. If you get the money before you get the deal, you have to look for a deal very fast. Similarly, if you get a good deal with no money, you will need to work fast to get the money.

It’s a very tricky situation. If you say you cannot do a deal because you do not have money, then you will never do the deal. If you say you cannot get money because you do not have a deal, then you will never get the money. I will talk about how to get money to flip houses.

What You Should Do Before You Start Looking For Money To Flip Houses

You need to know a few things before you start looking for money to start flipping houses.

Learn. Learn as much as you can about flipping houses. Use Google and find as much information as you can about flipping houses. The fact that you are here reading this information is a good sign that you trying to learn.

Associate with people who can help you. Surround yourself with people who have experience doing business. When you surround yourself with successful people their mindset will rub off on you. They might even turn out to be a great source of funding for your house flipping projects.

Study Your Market. Learn as much as you can about your target market. Get acquainted with the current trends, the streets, the neighborhoods, and the types of houses. When you have time just take a drive or walk around the place. The more you know about the market, the better prepared you will be when you talk to investors.

Network. Get out there and meet as many people as you possibly can. Build your real estate investing network and mingle with the right people who can help you in this industry.

Always Be Open To Creative Ways. You have to think outside the box when thinking of finding investors or sources of funding. Get creative and try not to limit yourself. Yes, there are rules but you have to use a certain amount of creativity if you want to be successful in real estate investing.

Possible Sources Of Funding

Keep in mind that this is not an exhaustive list. You can use your creativity to come up with new ways to fund your flips.

1. Your Money

In this case, the resources are yours but you do not need to invest any money. There are a number of ways that you can make this possible.

Home Equity Loans

You can work with a private money lender by leveraging this money into a few deals. You do not need to spend your money because you can roll the closing costs into the loan as well.

Credit Cards

These are very popular but you want to be very careful how you use them. Credit cards have been used to finance nearly all kinds of businesses for several years. You can use credit cards as a source of short term funding but do not over extend yourself.

Credit Lines

You can use your credit to get a line of credit with your suppliers for building materials.

IRAs

You can use a self directed IRA to fund flips but before you do anything, talk to your financial planner, lawyer and accountant. They will be able to tell you how you can avoid penalties.

2. Traditional Banking

I know this isn’t a popular option but it still remains a good source of funding. It’s challenging but it is possible to get funding from a bank if you have a solid business plan and explain to the bankers what you plan on doing. You may not get funding instantly but it may eventually become another source of money for your house flips.

3. Outside Investors

When approaching outside investors, there is a certain way that you should do it. You should at all times be honest, transparent, have your facts organized in a logical manner and associate yourself with a successful real estate investor/mentor.

There are three types of outside investors.

1.  Hard Money Lenders. These are excellent for people who can flip a house in the shortest amount of time. These types of lenders charge higher interest rates and points on top of that.
2. Private Money Lenders. People prefer private money lenders to hard money lenders because they give you control. You can set your own rates and rules. Most of the time private lenders have money lying around but they are not actively looking to invest it. all you have to do is get them interested in getting a better return on their money. A private money lender can be anyone you interact with; doctors, lawyers, dentists, etc.
3. Friends and family. This source of funding is usually very tricky and things can get out of hand very fast. I personally think there are better sources of funding that are less complicated. However, if think there’s potential. Make sure you do it the legal way and keep things professional. This way, you will avoid confrontations and misunderstandings.

4. Partners

Partnering up with someone is a great way of getting some “house flip momentum”. A partner can be anyone including a co-worker, a friend, a business owner, family member, etc.

I don’t encourage people to formalize a partnership with anyone when they are first starting out. As you continue flipping houses, you will quickly discover that there are good and bad partnerships.

The best way to partner up is to put in the effort of flipping the house while your partner contributes money needed to fund the flip. Once you have successfully flipped the house, you can split the profits 50-50.

Contractor Partners

This is whereby you form a partnership with a general contractor. You can decide that he will fund the rehabbing of the house while you fund the purchase. You can vary this arrangement and ask your partner if they can fund the entire flip. Depending on their cash flow situation, they might decide to do it.

Investor Partners

Investor partners are those people that you meet at REIA meetings or during social events. You can partner up with these people so they could led you money to fund a flip. Some can even help you find potential buyers or give you additional money to improve the property and reap greater profits. Always ensure that you draft a solid contract before partnering up and for the deal.

Conclusion

All these methods can help you start the process of flipping houses with no money. There are plenty of other ways that you can find sources of funding for your house flips. All you have to do is think creatively. Typically, there is no such thing as a bad idea when trying to think outside the box.

If you’ve made it this far, please leave a comment. I’d love to know what you think about these sources of funding and if you have ever used other sources.