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Flipping Houses

cryano

All-Big Ten
Apr 19, 2005
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Anyone have any experience?
Im late to the game...realizing by the time I find them, they are already ‘pending’...

Yeah I have cash for the cash buyer preference...but I cant imagine people are walking in these houses before getting them under contract.
Ive got a realtor and a contractor in partnership...but keep being late to the game.

I can’t fathom risking cash for a house w/out at least a walkthrough w a contractor.

Anyone have experience, advice, or strategy?
 
I own a few piece of real estate. right now the market is very strong you really need to be watching what is hitting the market daily. If you have a good contractor then just know what your break even is.. not the best time to be buying but you can still find deals. I am pretty "risky" when it comes comes investments. I am willing to take a risk on something, but i also have my contractor on speed dial and he is a really good friend. If I tell him hey look at this property he is there in an hour or two and gives me an honest assessment I also will take some risk her and say walk around take a look how are the bones (foundation, roof, and framing). If the bones are good I am a lot more willing to take a risk. We (my wife and I) were suppose to flip a lake property. My wife's father (not a builder) said I was way to risky.. of course that made me want to buy it more haha. We bought it and put a lot of money into it however the reappraisal came back about 60% more than what we had in it. I told her lets list it and she said nope so now we have a lake house haha.
 
Anyone have any experience?
Im late to the game...realizing by the time I find them, they are already ‘pending’...

Yeah I have cash for the cash buyer preference...but I cant imagine people are walking in these houses before getting them under contract.
Ive got a realtor and a contractor in partnership...but keep being late to the game.

I can’t fathom risking cash for a house w/out at least a walkthrough w a contractor.

Anyone have experience, advice, or strategy?
How does your anticipated potential return from this sort of investment stack up against other investment options? Typically, what you have identified on the front end of a purchase is an accurate measure of cost but it's what you then invest in improvements and the time it takes to do that which define your ultimate return. The market can fluctuate during that time but you have limited opportunity to escape if it is heading down. Having lived in several markets in the past 30 years, ranging from north suburban Houston to west suburban Chicago to Bloomington, every time I got interested in flipping I backed away from it because of the uncontrollable risk of market behavior. If you are prepared to hold on for a few years and ride it out, you might be OK. Otherwise, I would urge you to look at alternative investments.
 
How does your anticipated potential return from this sort of investment stack up against other investment options? Typically, what you have identified on the front end of a purchase is an accurate measure of cost but it's what you then invest in improvements and the time it takes to do that which define your ultimate return. The market can fluctuate during that time but you have limited opportunity to escape if it is heading down. Having lived in several markets in the past 30 years, ranging from north suburban Houston to west suburban Chicago to Bloomington, every time I got interested in flipping I backed away from it because of the uncontrollable risk of market behavior. If you are prepared to hold on for a few years and ride it out, you might be OK. Otherwise, I would urge you to look at alternative investments.
Im looking at 3 months or less to rehab and flip...
Not become a landlord.
I definitely dont have the cash to be a landlord.
 
Im looking at 3 months or less to rehab and flip...
Not become a landlord.
I definitely dont have the cash to be a landlord.
Not knowing the price range you are looking at, all I can say is do your homework well, look for private sales in addition to listed ones, choose your contractor(s) carefully, and pay attention to the market. That said, I hope all goes well for you.
 
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Does it make sense once you find a good contractor for them to have a little sweat
Equity so they have skin in the game?
 
Does it make sense once you find a good contractor for them to have a little sweat
Equity so they have skin in the game?
I would say no.. I am best friends with my contractor but I also don’t like partners. They may want to go cheap on something or expensive when it’s not needed.

Also best advice I can give for buying is be on Zillow or trulia daily. Look at homes going on the market and selling. Get an idea for what properties are selling for or being listed at. Once you get a feel for properties it’s super easy to see the “deals” when they hit the market. I do this for cities towns I may want to move to in the future (probably not moving anywhere but a man can dream).
 
on a side note, is flipping doing for housing what scalping did for ticket prices.

i question if investors and flippers aren't really eating up the lower end housing market, and making it really difficult for first time buyers or anyone on a tight budget.

especially true around Btown imo, where investors buy up everything that would otherwise be cheap, that they can make into 3 bedrooms and rent out.

while maybe not a factor on mid and high priced homes, imo investors have totally skewed otherwise low end home prices in Btown to beyond ridiculous.

in Btown, more so the would be landlords looking to rent, than flippers i'm guessing.
 
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Not knowing the price range you are looking at, all I can say is do your homework well, look for private sales in addition to listed ones, choose your contractor(s) carefully, and pay attention to the market. That said, I hope all goes well for you.

and just where do you find "private sales"?
 
and just where do you find "private sales"?
My reference to listed sales was to real estate which is for sale and is listed by a real estate agent. For others, you can check Zillow and Trulia online in addition to "for sale by owner" listings in newspapers.
 
My reference to listed sales was to real estate which is for sale and is listed by a real estate agent. For others, you can check Zillow and Trulia online in addition to "for sale by owner" listings in newspapers.

thanks.

guess i just wondered if there was some marketplace i didn't know about where homes were being sold, that weren't at least hitting Zillow.
 
Anyone have any experience?
Im late to the game...realizing by the time I find them, they are already ‘pending’...

Yeah I have cash for the cash buyer preference...but I cant imagine people are walking in these houses before getting them under contract.
Ive got a realtor and a contractor in partnership...but keep being late to the game.

I can’t fathom risking cash for a house w/out at least a walkthrough w a contractor.

Anyone have experience, advice, or strategy?
I did it for years. Made a lot of money. Housing is selling high right now. But, I would never buy a house without a good walk through. Too many potential issues such as termite damage, mold and such
 
An acquaintance was flipping houses in the Broad Ripple area for years. He was almost exclusively acquiring property via tax sales. I don't know much more than that, but he's an attorney and he had a partner in these deals that was a home inspector. They seemed to be flipping a home every month, so I assume they had at least 2-3 renovations going on at any given time.
 
With inventory this low....You'll need to get creative to find deals. Relying upon the MLS only is going to be tough.

Regarding MLS...your realtor should be having new listings emailed to you within hours of it going active. Zillow, etc...is often a few days delayed with their data feed.
 
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Seems like everyone is pricing their houses now, knowing what the rehab work will cost, and leaving abt $15k to be made on it.
Not that thats bad necessarily to make $15k, but thats just one issue to run into to narrow that profit margin to almost $0.
For as easy as many make it sound, it sure has been difficult and frustrating to find a house to start.

Ive lost on about 6 bids/offers...and had many more properties sell quicker than I could make the act.
 
An acquaintance was flipping houses in the Broad Ripple area for years. He was almost exclusively acquiring property via tax sales. I don't know much more than that, but he's an attorney and he had a partner in these deals that was a home inspector. They seemed to be flipping a home every month, so I assume they had at least 2-3 renovations going on at any given time.
Ive not looked into tax sales as I dont have the knowledge...
But from listening to another guy tell me about them - sounds like worst case you get your money back + 10%...at best case you get the property at your low bid.

So if you have lots of excess cash you don't mind being tied up on a property you may only make 10% on - then its a good game.
 
Buy land and grow & sell weed instead. Maybe in a medical marijuana state. I met a guy doing just that, getting state licences to legally grow the stuff in Kentucky, after he learned the business in Colorado.
 
Ive not looked into tax sales as I dont have the knowledge...
But from listening to another guy tell me about them - sounds like worst case you get your money back + 10%...at best case you get the property at your low bid.

So if you have lots of excess cash you don't mind being tied up on a property you may only make 10% on - then its a good game.

There's always the opportunity to go after the title of Slum Lord.
 
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