If you are a new real estate investor using a fix-and-flip strategy, you’re at the beginning of a potentially lucrative and entertaining career. There are also significant risks if you jump in without doing serious research.
Heed this house flipping advice:
- Plan the budget: Calculate whether your purchase and repair costs are much less than the home’s renovated resale value. Also, estimate carrying/maintenance costs while the home is up for sale.
- Add a trusted realtor to your team: Find a realtor (or two) you can rely upon to help you get homes for the best, lowest price—and tip you off to good deals coming up. Realtors can also help you decide which repairs and upgrades will really help you sell the house.
- Evaluate neighborhoods carefully: The details of the immediate area help determine the potential value of your renovated home, and how quickly it may sell. Make sure you don’t do more renovation than the neighborhood will support, and that the area’s quality of life is on the upswing.
- Get thorough inspections: An experienced property inspector will help you avoid buying a property so flawed that it’s a bad investment for fix-and-flip. Inspection results will also help you prioritize fixes and estimate the cost to get the home ready for the market.
- Team up with an expert local contractor: Their insider’s knowledge of the area and connections with home materials suppliers will help you renovate within your budget. Your contractor can also help you make the right home purchase decisions, by estimating the cost to complete specific renovation projects.
- Be realistic: If you’re planning to put in sweat equity on the investment homes you buy, make sure you’re qualified to do the renovation jobs necessary and have time to do so. It’s better to pay to get the projects done right, and promptly.
- Remain calm: Many small (and large) things that can go wrong, be delayed, or cost more than anticipated when you’re flipping houses. Profits may not come quickly and some homes may lose money. Think long term in this business.
These expert fix-and-flip tips can help you succeed in buying and renovating homes for resale.
Contact Rotay Capital Finance to get funding to boost your fix-and-flip business.
