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.
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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
“At Last, A Simple Solution to Successful Networking”
It is next to impossible to succeed in flipping houses for profit all by your lonesome. Having a solid network of house flipping contacts is an essential component to any house flipping business.
Thus effective networking needs to be at the center of your own house flipping business plan.
The goal of networking is to establish those key relationships that will help you propel your house flipping business forward.
Yet networking is really just a fancy word for making friends.
Unfortunately we sometimes lose sight of this simple truth, and some folks never seem to "get it."
In my experience it is not unusual to encounter people at networking events who's main goal is to give their card to everyone at the event. We have all been stuck in other people's boastful conversations and may have even witnessed complete strangers arguing over something that doesn't even matter.
Approaching a networking event from the wrong angle will get you nowhere very quickly. A better idea is to approach each and every networking opportunity as if you were simply there to make a few friends.
After all, making new friends is what networking truly is. Wouldn't you agree?
Breakthrough Fear and Achieve your Real Estate Dreams
I am a firm believer that we are all capable of incredible things, whether it be learning how to flip houses or climbing a mountain. I believe that someone's background, education and prior life experiences do not dictate their potential.
Everyone on this planet has the potential to learn how to flip houses and do something wonderful. At least that's what I believe!
Often times in real estate or house flipping, it just takes a little coaching in order to convince someone that this is true. Someone may very well have unlimited potential-however in many cases they just don't see it.
I will be the first to admit that life can knock a person down. Unexpected and traumatic things happen, and it is not always easy to bounce back. Believe me, I too battled fear, doubt and worry when I first began to learn how to flip houses.
However if we take a look around at our family, friends and associates we can 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
Get Rid of Your Fear of Flipping Houses Once and for All
I talk to people all the time about how they want to flip and grow rich - a catchy little spinoff from Napoleon Hill that lots of house flipping pros seem to use these days - but something always seems to stop them...
I was curious. So we did a little survey here at House Flipping School in advance of the launch of our House Flipping School One-on-One Coaching Program to really find out what prevents people from getting dirty and starting to flip and grow rich.
Starting to Flip and Grow Rich...What Stops YOU?
We made the survey pretty much open-ended with a few questions so that people could fill in what they really were thinking.
I'm no professional survey taker, but I figured that would help.
I thought I’d get the usual answers Continue reading
Slash Time NOT Quality | My Top 3 House Flip Time-Saving Secrets
The house flipping business hinges heavily upon time.
Shorter timelines generally equate to greater potential profits for the majority of house flipping businesses. Longer timelines typically mean less profit upon the final sale of the home.
Thus in the house flipping business, time is an important concept to keep in mind. When developing your personal house flipping business plan, be sure to make time a top priority.
Ideally the house flipper wants to minimize the amount of time it takes to flip a house, without sacrificing quality.
Remember that quality always comes first. As fellow house flippers, you and I have a responsibility to create a high quality, safe and attractive environment to live in.
Cutting corners during the rehab process can prove catastrophic to any house flipping business model. Cutting corners will always come back to nip you in the butt. If cutting corners doesn't hurt your wallet, it will most certainly hurt your house flipping business reputation.
Slash time but don't slash quality.
Here are my top 3 house flip time-saving secrets, in no particular order.
3 Sure-Fire Closet Tactics To Sell Flips Fast
To consistently make money flipping houses, I highly recommend paying extra attention to the details.
I have published many house flipping tips posts about the impact that brush nickel fixtures, good lighting and open space can have on a house flipping business. These small, yet incredibly important details always add up to become a major component of the house flipping formula.
By paying close attention to the small details of a house flip, you will help set yourself up for long term house flipping business success.
House Flipping Business Tips | Why Closets are Super Important
Closets are small items with regards to cost, but they are super important when it comes to selling a flipped house. For some uknown reason many people have an obsession of sorts with closets. I guess they just love having a place to store their stuff!
The good thing about creating awesome closets is that doing so is not expensive. Often times creating a closet is as simple as finding some "dead space" and then installing a light and some wire shelving.
Below is my "closet checklist" that I take with me, in my mind, to each new house flipping project. If you find yourself "stuck" with regards to closets, give this checklist a quick read to help reassess your house flipping business situation.
House Flipping Tips | The Closet Checklist
Partnerships and Flipping Houses
One thing that you'll notice right away in this business is that every deal is different. The way you work your first house flip deal will most likely be very different from how you work your second house flip deal and so on.
For me this helps to keep this business exciting. For you, deal making flexibility is important because it is possible (as we talk about a lot here on the blog) to flip houses without using your own money.
Instead of using your own money to fund a deal, you use other people's money - which we refer to as OPM. Why would you use someone else's money you ask? Well the most likely scenario is that you don't have enough money of your own to fund a house flip deal, which is of course A-OK.
Often times the best house flip deals appear and disappear very quickly. If you have identified a good deal on a property using ARV, MOA and the 70% Rule, then the next step to take is action.