I know that there are some books out there on the business of “flipping property”. One of the most extensive inexpensive materials that I have found is a book by Kevin Meyers. The book is "find it, fix it, flip it, forget it, fund it… okay something like that. I know that there is a lot of “F’s it” in the title. Ron legrands course on “Wholesaling and Retailing” has a section that talks about how to estimate repair costs. You will figure it out over time. The best teacher is experience. Just try to use someone else’s experience to make you rich.
Hi everyone… I have been toying around for several years as to how to get involved in making money in real estate in a way that best fits my personality and goals. Well I finally decided that wholesale buying/selling is the way I want to go. I’m sure there are a lot of people here that buy financially or physically distressed properties for low cost and then fix em up and resell them around fair market value.
I’ve come into a bit of money that should make this very easy for me to do and am starting to work on getting my realestate/financial team together. So i’m looking for tips as to what I should consider while making my “team”.
Right now I see that I’m going to want to have a good realtor, lawyer, accountant and handyman as a part of my “team” Is there anyone I’m not thinking of?
How do closings usually work? I’m going to be buying a home for cash if it looks attractive and I can get it for a low enough price to make my time invested worth it. I want to make at least 15 thou per “flip”… is that realistic? But back to the question… how hard is it to organize a “closing”? never been thru one (I’m 24 and always rented an apartment) How much should I expect to pay per closing?
My basic strategy right now is to find a broker that has a home that is distressed, make an offer that would allow me to make a good profit, put some money in it for fix ups and list it back to the broker to have it sold.
If anyone could help me out with that strategy by adding ideas/methods, that would be great.
Since you have “come into some money”, it would behoove you to invest in your education on the area you want to pursue. You can buy Steve Cook’s wholesaling course off this website for $150 and it is a very good starter.
Re: Need some advice on flipping - Posted by Bipin Patel
Posted by Bipin Patel on July 27, 2001 at 23:01:43:
Stave,
I am Colonialheights(Richmond suburb)VA.Which part of VA are you?I am also looking for invester club here.Lets exchange some ideas.I am also looking to wholesale flips.
Bipin
First off, why not try “wholesaling” properties. Find the fixer-uppers that are a good bargain and then pass them on to someone that is already into rehabbing? You can make some quick cash, and learn more of the ropes.
Second, either find a good title company (or layer) which ever is most common in your state, and ask them the things you need to do to do a closing. Get several opinions, because some people really aren’t that knowledgeable. Good Luck.
Closing costs are usually paid by the seller when I am purchasing. I do incur some costs when I am the seller. Usually 3 to 4% of the sales price if there is not a broker involved. Everything is negotiable! As far as organizing the closing, your agent will do that when you have something that you are buying. After you do 1 deal with them, they will be your friend for life.
I would say join your local Real Estate Investors Association. All the players for your “team” are usually there or people who can refer you to them are there. The association also has good educational information for whatever aspect of Real Estate that you want to do. Lots of wisdom there. Just make sure you talk to people who have actually done some deals and not someone who has attended a lot of seminars.
Do you know how to determine what is a good deal and not a good deal? Are you familiar with repair costs? The reason I ask is if something is a "deal " here, then it is not on the market more than a couple of hours if at all. If you are waiting on your realtor to meet you there and your contractor to give you an estimate for repairs you may miss some/ a lot of deals.
Your strategy is a good one however, it is also a lot of other investors strategy. So it is possible just be prepared for some competition.
Great, thats the kind of advice that i was looking for.
I’m still looking for a investment club in my area but no luck… i guess I’ll start calling some real estate brokers to find out if they know of any.
As far as trying to determine a good deal from a typical or just a bad deal, I couldnt say really (i’m a neophite to this, but I have alot of common sense)… whats the best way to find out? Any books I should read? I bought the Carleton Sheets course and it has some nice ideas, but if I did not have any money, I definately would not try to apply any of his ideas, seems pretty risky do to without having 10 grand or more in reserves. I figure the good deals go fast and the realtor’s probably get first notice so I’m going to make sure to make alot of realtor friends.
Would it be worth my time to take Realtor classes at the local community college and get certified?
As for competition, I’m not to worried about that… at this point I got enough cash to finance 1 house(100k or less) at a time by myself so I dont have to worry about getting loans and all that type of hassle and I work a normal 9 to 5 job… I just wanna flip 3 or 4 houses a year to build on my worth until it eventually becomes bigger and I can save enough cash to work bigger deals… eventually I want to be able to buy/sell/aquire apartment buildings.
Any advice from others that are talking from personal experience and not just what they read somewhere would be welcomed.