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 101 [Infographic] | 9 Simple Steps on How to Flip a House
Unless you’ve been living under a real estate rock the past 12-18 months, learning how to flip houses is all the rage now…
With multiple reality television shows like Flip This House and all the others – not to mention all the regional ones (like the one in my backyard “Flipping Boston”) – it seems everyone has flipped for house flipping.
Just last week, I even got a call from US News and World Report to do an interview on house flipping. Crazy!
It just seems like there are Continue reading
The Hidden Secret to Making Offers That Stick When Flipping Houses
Alright, how do you actually make offers that stick when flipping houses?
Although I WISH I knew the magical answer to that question...unfortunately I do not. In house flipping, some offers are accepted and some are not.
It's just the nature of the business.
However, there are a few things you can do to make sure that your house flip offers stick more often than they don't.
And the answer is NOT what you might think...
How to Make Offers Flipping Houses
When you are first starting to learn how to flip houses, until you know your house flipping team really well, be totally hands on.
It stands to reason that you would actually want to Continue reading
How to Make an Offer on a Property
Making a good offer on a property that you would like to purchase is not rocket science. With that in mind it is very important to fully understand the dynamics of making an offer, to avoid wasting other people's (and your own) time and energy.
On certain properties you will be wasting your time trying to low ball your offer. Then again there are many properties on the market right now which you may be able to pick up for a price much less than your determined maximum allowed offer.
Before we dive into the nitty gritty of this post I would recommend that you familiarize yourself with a few important topics if you have not already done so. Definitely educate yourself on after repair value, the 70% rule, costs of repair and determine your maximum allowed offer.
Conveniently we already have some posts here at House Flipping School covering these topics.
For information on determining ARV (after repair value), MAO (maximum allowed offer) and the costs of repairs click here.
For the 70% rule click here.
Once you have a handle on the above mentioned items you will be one big step closer to making a serious offer on a property.
How to Make Money Flipping Houses One “Comp” At a Time
One of the things house flippers just love to talk about in house flipping is how much they sold a house for.
Yes, its the most fun (especially when it involves a number with lots of zeros after it!)...but the reality is that its one of the final steps in what can be a very long process.
We even refer to this process as the house flipping formula, with 12 distinct steps how to make money flipping houses.
So how do you make money flipping houses so you get those checks with lots of zeros in them?
How To Make Money Flipping Houses...Comp Style
We've explained how much it costs to flip a house using ARV (after repair value) before. And to determine the ARV, you want to get a really good real estate agent to work with you to determine what the after repair value is, which is the selling price of that property after you renovate it.
A good real estate agent will be able to help you with that.
How do they do it?
They first perform a Continue reading
How to Flip a House: Don’t Make This Rookie Selling Mistake
Now for the best part of learning how to flip a house…selling!
No doubt, one of the most exciting parts of house flipping is selling. It’s the culmination of months of work and many house flipping steps. You raised some money having learned how to flip houses with no money, you bought the property, you repaired it and rehabbed it and now you’re ready to sell it.
Way back when you were first starting out in assessing the house flip, you determined the ARV and with the house done, you are ready to list it with a real estate broker.
It’s an exciting time. You’re looking forward to cashing that big check, and cash in on all Continue reading
How to Flip Houses…As Simple As 5th Grade Math
When you're first learning how to flip houses, any real estate investor will tell you how important it is to understand the numbers.
If you go into real estate deal without knowing your numbers cold, one thing is certain…you will have a very short house flipping career.
The good news is that in the house flipping business, you don't have to have a PhD in mathematics in order to understand the math behind house flipping. In fact, any 5th grader could do it.
For example, if you can understand numbers such as:
$200,000 / 70% = $140,000
Then congratulations, you have the requisite math skills to successfully flip houses.
By doing the basic math above, you just completed one of the most basic formulas when learning how to flip houses. This formula will Continue reading
How to Find Houses to Flip | Short Sales
How to find a houses to flip?
Big question...many answers. We touch on one of the best ways to find houses to flip today....
We've touched on many aspects of house flipping including the house flipping mindset, how to get started flipping houses, how to use partners in flipping houses , how to flip houses with no money as well as how to find houses to flip with real estate agents...just to name a few.
Now its time to talk about another way how to find houses to flip using a different kind of agent, the kind who deals in "short sales"...namely, the short sale specialist.
How to Find Houses to Flip: Short Sale Specialists
Short sale specialists are typically (but not always) real estate agents who have become experts in negotiating short sales.
What's a "short sale" you say?
The definition of a short sale is:
"a property sold by a seller by a real estate agent for less money than what the seller owes the bank who holds the mortgage"
When a seller does this, it could save the seller from Continue reading
How to Locate Lucrative Opportunities
House Flipping Opportunities
In the house flipping industry there often are opportunities all around us, virtually knocking at our front doors. Problem is that sometimes we are so wrapped up in what we are doing, that we end up not noticing prime opportunities ripe for the picking.
Other times we are presented with an opportunity that just is not right for us at the present moment. It’s easy to write off these opportunities and forget about them, which believe me I am guilty of from time to time.
However I have recently realized just how important keeping an open mind is when it comes to new opportunities. I noticed that if I have an open mind, then I am more likely to spot opportunities and potential projects.
An open mind also helps me to find ways of tackling opportunities that initially did not seem feasible for me. Let me explain.
About a year ago I was presented with a fairly significant project on the island of Nantucket. To make a long story short the project did not end up working out. However I was able to create a solid contact and new relationship with a real estate agent who specialized in island real estate.
This particular agent then shared with me another project that she was working on. It was a 10 acre, beautiful plot of land in a wonderful section of the island. Again the opportunity sounded tempting, but it really was not the right move for me at that moment. Nevertheless I expressed some interest and made sure to show appreciation for the opportunity, her time and her energy.
How to Find Houses to Flip Using Real Estate Agents
OK, so how do you actually find houses to flip?
We’ve touched on many of the critical element to house flipping success in previous posts, but if you don’t ever find a house that can be flipped for a profit, your house flipping career will never take off.
So here are a few way how you can find good houses to flip using one of the best sources for real estate deals: real estate agents.
How to Find Houses to Flip With Real Estate Agents
Real estate agents are one of the best means by which to locate houses to flip, without a doubt. they know your market, have their finger on the pulse of what's going on and are usually very knowledgable.
On the flip side, if you're not careful, you can get into some trouble here as well, so Continue reading