flipping houses

I am a stay at home mom and want some adviee. I've seen a lot of shows were people buy houses, fix them up for a few bucks and resale making huge profits. Is this really attainable? I'm really really interested in doing it and have been doing a lot of fixing around my own house (repairing toilets, doing insulating, fixing fences, painting ect). I feel I can do this but does anyone know how I even begin or can they direct me to a legitamate website that can tell me how to legally do all this? Oh by the way, I don't have thousands of dollars laying around to do these repairs. Will I need that or is there some kind of special loan that will allow me to buy a house, make repairs and then resale? Thanks for your help.

Reply to
mamace
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It is possible, but it's also risky--for the most part the ones peddling on TV are making far more money selling their "program" than in doing what they're recommending--think about it--if they were busy getting rich doing what they talking about, why would they need/want the competition they're bound to generate?

This is probably a particularly poor time to even think about this unless you are _VERY_ experienced and don't need to ask such questions in most housing markets given the rising interest rates. My recommendation is that unless you have far more capability than simply doing a few minor repairs and the tools, etc., necessary, and the time to devote to this other than a few evenings or weekends to stay the heck away.

Reply to
dpb

I would be very careful about getting into this. We are late in the cycle of rising demand and prices.

Perhaps you know or can get to know a realtor with experience in the area. You might team up. TB

Reply to
tbasc

Yes. But you're not necessarily picking a great time jump in the fray as the market for houses has gone to utter poo and in many markets there is a LOT of inventory sitting out there, and a lot of builder's projects also vying for buyers since rising interest rates and sinking consumer confidence is drying up the housing market from it's boom the past several years.

On the other hand with rising interest rates, and the number of lemings sold on variable rate interest loans who bought all the house they could afford at that low rate a couple years ago, you're gonna see a lot of defaulted loans and properties coming onto the market that way, so if you can tap into the foreclosure scene and pick up some bargains, you can still make money.

Some questions to ask yourself are: How much equity do you have in your own home to borrow against? How is your household credit, and debt to income ratio? Do you have the wherewithall to get through paying up to a year for the house you don't live in before getting your money back? How risk averse is your situation?

If you beat the bushes among realtors and feel out for one that has a good handle on flipping and has ties to the foreclosure markets and such, that person could be a pretty good mentor for this.

Finally, in the rust belt states at least, you may find desperate sellers in late winter/early spring whose homes have been sitting on the market all winter, and the folks looking to move when school's out having come out to shop yet. Bargains can be had there too, and if you can turn it around quickly and get into the market in April/May when more buyers are out looking, that may be something to think about too.

Best Regards,

-- Todd H.

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Reply to
Todd H.

Yes, but not now. Let the market settle some, know what the area you want to purchase goes for and how often the turn over is. They don't fix them up for a few bucks. One house...reported locally a couple years ago increased by 54% (yes) in a year. That will not happen now...promise.

Keep doing what you are doing; like fixing your house. Jumping into something without knowing the potential for financial difficulty is a bad thing. Your house right now is where your money is.

Your need money to swing these deals you want to make.

Can your credit handle such a task ( don't answer )?

-- Oren

"Well, it doesn't happen all the time, but when it happens, it happens constantly."

Reply to
Oren

Not a good idea, at this time ... real estate is tanking. It has more to do with market trends than cosmetic improvements and repairs. Take up website design or somesuch to earn a buck as a stay at home mom.

Reply to
Charles Schuler

That ship has sailed, for the most part. You should wait for the housing market to bottom out and begin to recover before delving into that kind of work.

During upward-moving markets, however, good renovators serve a great purpose. In our older neighborhood, many of the houses are prime for renovation. When the market is better, this would be a great place to make a good profit on renovating and reselling houses.

Reply to
Paul

Do you have the skills to build and rebuild a house? If not, you don't have the skills to flip a house. Fllipping involoves sweat equity. You will not be able to do this well if you have to hire out to have everything done. Then again, there are a few savy people out there who do nothing but buy a house, paint it and do some minor repairs and sell at a decent profit. These are highly skilled at finding bargins and have the resources (cash) to deal with it.

If you have to borrow all the money you will be getting a commercial loan, not a standard mortgage. Interest rates are MUCH higher for business loans and you better have lots of collateral. You also need to have a good understanding of the market and repair costs.

Mike D.

Reply to
Mike Dobony

This is HIGHLY dependent on the market. There are always exceptions to this. Yes, the overall market is getting tight, but there are still areas of the country that are still in a housing boom, notably CA, AZ and CO. You still need to have an excellent grasp of the market to do this and have the skill to search out these bargins.

Reply to
Mike Dobony

The problem is money. Yes, you can buy a house for $300K, spent $50K and sell for $450K, clearing a hundred grand. However, you need a lot of cash up front.

Also, you may do three succesful flips in a row, and then have a house where you discover asbestos, foundation problems etc. Or it takes 10 months to sell. Or the market turns sour. If you have the money, you can overcome these setbacks. If you're short on cash, you can't finish the project, you can't sell the house, and you go bankrupt.

It's safer if you buy a fixer-upper, live in it, and do the upgrades over several years, then sell it at a profit. You need to a place to live anyway, so it's not an extra cost. But that's not exactly a flip.

Reply to
Bas Pluim

On Wed, 27 Sep 2006 16:19:09 -0500, "mamace" wrote Re flipping houses:

No. Not like portrayed on TV. Think about it. The people who do the TV show are making money on the show, book, whatever. They aren't making money on flipping houses.

Yes

Reply to
Caesar Romano

In my neighborhood, three years ago, flippers were making money like mad. 80-100% profit in three years. Can't give them away now, and the taxes might triple or quadruple because of the homestead/save our homes laws in Florida. Can't get insurance either.

Reply to
Norminn

Some further thoughts. Knowing a trade or several trades is not the same as knowing how to organize several subcontractors. That includes finding subs that are skilled, organized and honest, writing contracts that work for both parties, being able to coordinate and recoordinate schedules, lean on folks when needed.

Buying and refurbishing a house includes, knowing markets. This includes knowing what needs to be refurbished, to what style and level of quality it needs to be refurbished, and, as noted by others, the ability to deal with a house that does not move. ( I'm talking to an owner who does development for a large and prosperous restaurant chain who bought and refurbished a house in a hot neighborhood and can't move it.) TB

Reply to
tbasc

Reporting from AZ here to tell you we are NOT in a boom, unfortunately :-(. Houses are sitting on the market for six months or more, no one's looking, and it just sucks. We're pulling our house off the market after six weeks because only one person has come to see it in that time. The story is the same for every realtor or seller we talk to. It's bad here in Tucson, and just as bad in Phoenix.

Hopefully, early next year things will pick up some.

Dawn

Reply to
Dawn

I live in Nevada. Not intentionally, but after "our" spike I sold. It was originally a long term thing, but the double my money in about 18 months really meant something with a cash buyer. We still hold our value.

Flipping right now is not at the top of my list, now ....

-- Oren

"Well, it doesn't happen all the time, but when it happens, it happens constantly."

Reply to
Oren

Las Vegas is side-ways right now, BUT the market is holding well. My house still increases in value.....

We got 20K houses I think on the market.

-- Oren

"Well, it doesn't happen all the time, but when it happens, it happens constantly."

Reply to
Oren

The funny thing about houses is that unless you actually add something remarkable in terms of upgrades, there is no solid reason for them to increase in value, other than demand, which is fickle.

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

Reporting from CO to say that we are NOT in a boom either. Nine months of housing inventory is available in Colorado Springs. Not a pretty sight.

Reply to
Paul

It's like mining for gold. You might routinely pick up nuggets, but the odds are against it. The people who consistently made out during the California Gold Rush were the ones who sold shovels.

Better would be to contract your services as a "curb appeal specialist" to somebody who is trying to sell their house.

Reply to
HeyBub

It is pretty grim for "want" houses here in Florida too but if you are in a good location with a nice home it will still move. The guys who are getting crushed are those with swampland homers that people were dumb enough to buy and had no clue why they bought them other than they thought they could be flipped to a bigger fool. Joke's on you buddy

Reply to
gfretwell

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