Is House Flipping Dead?
Is house flipping dead? Believe it or not I have been hearing that house flipping (foreclosure flipping to be specific) is indeed dead (and/or dying) from quite a few people.
Whether it is an email from a blog reader or a comment in a forum - it seems some people are worried that foreclosure flipping may be coming to an end. :0
Are you guys trying to scare me? Should I be changing the name House Flipping School to something else? How could someone say such a thing?
Well the truth of the matter is that these people have a very valid point. There is a new player in town (perhaps in your town) called the Hedge Fund.
The Hedge Fund: Death of Foreclosure Flipping?
Hedge funds are now dabbling with alternative real estate investing strategies like flipping foreclosure properties. To be more specific, certain hedge funds are now looking at purchasing bulk REOs from banks. These are the same foreclosed properties that you or I may be interested in fixing and flipping.
This is new territory for the banks, which have been for the most part slowly releasing foreclosed properties to individual investors. Now these same banks are talking with the hedge funds, which have the ability to buy up hundreds if not thousands of foreclosed properties all in one swoop.
If you didn’t already know it, hedge funds are enormous and have very deep pockets. How deep you ask?
Are Wholesalers Getting a Bad Rep?
Well the short (and not so sweet) answer is YES. Real estate wholesalers are indeed getting a bad rep, at least based on what I've been hearing in the real estate investing community. So if you are a real estate wholesaler, or are looking to get into wholesaling real estate please listen up!
Real estate wholesaling is a great business to get into. Many wholesalers make a fine living for themselves and many more start as wholesalers, do a great job and then make the step to flipping houses. These are the real estate wholesalers that I like to surround myself with. These are the guys and ladies that will bring me lucrative deals that I am interested in.
On the flip side of the coin are wholesalers who think wholesaling real estate is like hitting the "easy button" - as our friends at Staples would call it. Unfortunately this brand of thinking will do nothing but sink your wholesaling business before you even set sail.
Wholesaling real estate is not easy. Wholesaling is just like any other business in that being successful requires a business plan, goals and specific actions. Reading a few blog posts about wholesaling deals and then setting off to try it out just wont' cut it. Most successful wholesalers I know began with a mentor and/or specific wholesaler training.
The most important ingredient to wholesaling success is placing yourself in the shoes of the investor you hope to wholesale your real estate to. A good real estate wholesaler understands what his investors want. He or she understands the numbers that the investor is going to have to see in order to buy a property. Wholesalers that I do business with have their numbers in line before approaching me with a potential deal.
So how can you be 100% certain that the wholesale real estate deal you are bringing to the table is actually a deal that will pique the interest of investors? Well this is exactly what I plan to address in the remainder of this blog post.
Wholesaling Real Estate: Is It For You?
Discover the connection between wholesaling real estate and house flipping and whether wholesaling is for you
Although I am a card-carrying member of the house flipping real estate investing club, wholesaling real estate is a great way for people to get started in real estate investing.
I've found that many people want to get into traditional house flipping, but may not have the immediate resources or the desire to do it. Although you can get started flipping houses with no money, for some people it might be too much of a leap for them.
However, there is a middle ground and its called real estate wholesaling.
Real Estate Wholesaling and House Flipping: Long Lost Cousins?
When I started flipping houses, I had some savings, so it helped me to get started for sure. But even if you have no money and want to get started house flipping, always remember that Continue reading
7 Lessons A Real Estate Investing Beginner Can Learn From Steve Jobs
As a real estate investing beginner, you want to quickly learn the tricks of the trade and see a return on every investment that you make.
I recently took the time and read Walter Isaacson’s book, “Steve Jobs”. Despite his incredible success, I came to learn in his book, that Steve Jobs was a distinctive and deeply flawed human being just like many of us. He made several mistakes including alienating his own daughter. But sometimes we all prefer to think of our heroes as just that, heroes; we hardly ever want to probe further into their personal lives because there’s a high chance that we would find something we don’t like and they would stop being our heroes.
That aside, I realized that after reading the book I also came away from it having learned anyone can be great including any beginner thinking of venturing into real estate. So here are 7 lessons that Steve Jobs can teach a real estate investing beginner.
11 Sure-Fire Strategies To Flip Houses Fast
Flip Houses Fast With These Insider Curb Appeal Tips
When you flip houses, you want to sell the flip as fast as possible. The speed in which you sell your flip makes the difference between a home run and a merely average flip.
Aside from home staging, what are some other techniques can you use to flip houses ultra fast?
There's a little thing called "curb appeal" you should probably know about.
And it's a small thing that makes a BIG difference.
Flip Houses...Thinking On The Outside
Most house flippers focus their efforts only on the inside of the house and have a tendency to neglect the outside. Interior changes are very important and should not be overlooked in their importance, for sure. In many cases, to further enhance the interior, we tend to use staging to make the house appear more lived in and homey.
On a number of occasions, we've sold our house flips on the first day of putting them on the market. And a lot of this had to to with the house showing really well on the interior using staging. Really good home staging is an important aspect of selling houses quickly and it has Continue reading
House Flipping School’s Top 10 Posts of 2012
Learn how to flip a house with our top 10 posts of 2012!
When you are first learning how to flip a house, its confusing to cobble together all the best house flipping information that's out there on the Internet.
So here I'm gonna make it real easy for you...with our Top 10 Most Popular Posts on House Flipping School of 2012.
If you read all these posts, will it teach you exactly how to flip a house as soon as you read them? Not exactly, you do have to do a few things before you even start the whole process, but I guarantee they will get you going in the right direction.
Of course, if you want to get even more information on how to flip a house, get our eBook.
Or, if you're a bit more visual...check out our most popular House Flipping School videos here.
How to Flip a House With House Flipping School's Top 10
So if you really want to learn how to flip houses, here are our 10 most popular posts of the year. You'll notice that most of them are Continue reading
How to Find your 1st House to Flip in 2013
Maybe you have been wanting to how to find houses to flip for quite a while now. Perhaps you have tried in the past but lost money or just barely broke even. Maybe you have no clue how to find good houses to flip. Whatever your situation, the New Year brings new opportunity and refreshed sense of potential that 2013 could be your breakthrough year.
At least that is how I look at it!
If you are looking to find your first house to flip in 2013, then I think it is important to get back to the basics. There is a strategy that works when learning how to find houses to flip. Have no worries if you have never flipped a house before-we all have to start somewhere.
In this post I am going to share how to find good houses to flip early in this New Year. Lets make 2013 a year to remember!
Research Houses to Flip Before Stepping Foot in a House
In-depth and exhaustive research is pretty critical when it comes to finding that first house to flip of 2013. You do not want to get hung up forever on the research step, but you do want to make sure you cover all your bases and know what you are getting yourself into.
Detailed research on a geographic area is an absolute must. I am not talking about Googling your town and just spending a bunch of time on the internet. Internet research is a good place to start to find a good house to flip, but you really have to get out there and physically visit your targeted geographic area-or else you could get yourself into some trouble.
For example I flipped a house this past summer that was located in a notoriously "tough" section of a Massachusetts neighborhood. This area of town has many run-down homes and to be completely honest, is not a very economically strong area. There are actually police officers positioned on street corners at all hours of the day in some spots.
So based on internet research and hear-say one might be inclined to write off this area as just a bad place to try to invest in real estate. I mean, who is going to want to buy a house in a neighborhood that is patrolled on foot 24/7 by police officers?
Well I went and visited this particular neighborhood and sure enough I found the police officers, but I also found one street with beautiful water views. I kid you not, the difference of just one street in this neighborhood was immense. Because of the water views and proximity to a small beach, the home values on this one particular street were astoundingly higher than the surrounding real estate.
Finding this one street was like finding a diamond in the rough. I ended locating a good house to flip on this street, rehabbing it and selling it for a nice profit.
I guarantee that I never would have spotted the opportunity had I not physically drove out and visited my targeted geographic location.
Lesson Learned for 2013 - Start with internet research, and then go out and physically comb through your targeted geographic area.
Continue reading
House Flipping School Grows Its Team!
It’s been a crazy couple of months at House Flipping School...with new deals flying in, interviews with national news organizations and new coaching students coming on board…I've been flat-out!
We are working on some really cool stuff coming in the springtime and although it’s too early to let the cat out of the bag…stay tuned for more details as we continue to make House Flipping School the best online resource for learning how to flip houses and invest in real estate!
But the best, coolest thing about growing here at House Flipping School, I get to partner with some really cool people who I not only respect and admire but get to bring great people on board who will not only make me a better full-time real estate investor and house flipping coach, but can bring even more value to you the House Flipping School reader.
So in that vein, I am proud to announce my formal partnership with John Fossetti, who as many of you may recall was the moderator on the webinar we did a few weeks ago which launched the House Flipping School One-on-One Personalized Coaching Program.
The Newest House Flipping School Team Member: John Fossetti
For those of you who don’t know him, John has been in the real estate business since 2001 where he worked as a Mortgage Planner for Prime Mortgage Financial until 2008.
In 2008, John was so intrigued with real estate, he started to invest himself. As an investor, he got Continue reading
Deck the Halls with House Flips
With the holiday season now upon us I would first like to say thank you for checking out the House Flipping School blog. This blog began back in May of this year and since then I have met some incredible people and formed some wonderful relationships that I never saw coming. It’s been a great experience!
So needless to say I am really looking forward to 2013. My team and I have some big ideas that we’ll be releasing to you here on the blog throughout the new year-so be sure to stay tuned. Until then I’ll be looking forward to meeting, and helping, aspiring house flippers like you get started on the road to house flipping success.
A Holiday House Flipping Checklist
For me, this time of the year is first and foremost about my family. My house flipping business will continue to truck along, but it will take a back seat to Christmas parties and just spending some Q-time with my wife and daughters. Ladies if you are reading this, be sure to hold me to this! LOL
However this time of the year is also about reflection and setting house flipping goals for the new year.
I will be the first to admit that maintaining balance, and focusing on high impact tasks can be a constant battle. That’s why in this post I am going to share with you a detailed strategy for how you can accomplish your most important and most critical goals for 2013.
How I Made $56,135 on 1 House Flip
Is it possible to make $56,135 on ONE house flip?
Chances are you've probably seen hyped up e-mails with subject lines like that coming into your inbox from the latest "real estate guru".
With the rebirth of the real estate market, you're not alone...they came in my e-mail inbox almost every day.
It seems like the only way to get people's attention is to shout from the treetops how much money you're making. And although it probably does work (otherwise nobody would probably do it, right?), to me it just seems like overkill.
One of the things we've always tried to do it the House Flipping School is to be real and transparent. I just think that when you're real, you end up building an audience of people who actually want to learn and although they may be jaded by the latest hype, they really just want to learn how to flip houses.
And in this case of this blog, not just learning how to do ONE house flip...but learning how to do flip after flip after flip.
So for all of you who want to know the real inside scoop behind one of my most successful house flips with real numbers (not made up just to match the catchy headline)…then read Continue reading