Setting out on the journey to fix and flip houses is an exciting prospect. Thanks to your new business venture, you plan to be able to substantially increase your income–not to mention developing investments that will help support you and your family long-term. By following these key fix and flip tips, you’ll be able to engage in more effective investments that will have a more positive ending.
Tip #1: Develop a Great Relationship with a Contractor
If you’re planning to fix and flip houses long-term, you need a great relationship with a contractor you can trust. This should be someone with experience in the area where you’re purchasing your fix and flip home who will provide you with accurate, trustworthy estimates so that you can decide quickly whether or not a home is the right investment for you.
Tip #2: Know Your Limits
Many people think that investing a little sweat equity in the house they’re planning to fix up is a great way to save some money. After all, labor is one of the most expensive parts of construction. Before you start planning to fix up the house you’ve chosen, make sure you know your limits. Diving in with a project that’s too much for your capabilities can end in financial disaster when you have to pay someone else to come in and fix it.
Tip #3: Find the Right Realtor
You need a realtor who knows the local market and who understands what you’re looking for. A great realtor will help you secure your house at a bargain, so that you can fix it up for a higher sale price. Keep in mind that your realtor needs to understand the value of homes and that they might not know exactly what will be needed in order to fix a house up, but they may be able to indicate things that will help it sell.
Tip #4: Have the House Inspected
Skipping the home inspection is one move that can be extremely costly in the fix and flip process. When you opt to have the home inspected, you’ll learn exactly what it needs in order to be habitable–and get a better idea of how much you’ll have to spend in the renovation process.
Tip #5: Know Your Budget
Before you start an expensive renovation process, you need to know what your budget is going to look like. Your budget for fixing up and flipping a house is different from your budget for fixing up a house that you plan to live in. This is a shorter-term investment than your personal home, so make sure that you can buy the house and fix it up for significantly less than what the house will be worth when you’re ready to sell.
Tip #6: Check the Whole Neighborhood
The neighborhood your house sits in can have a big impact on your selling price. You want a neighborhood that is growing: one where many houses are being fixed up and turned around. Ideally, you want a house that sits next to others that have already been fixed up, not one that sits next to the neighborhood eyesore. You should also check to make sure that the neighborhood is not located on a busy street and that your house isn’t surrounded by excessive noise: noisy dogs, chickens, trains, airplanes, and more.
Tip #7: Develop Patience
Fixing and flipping houses won’t earn you the money you’re expecting overnight. There will be delays in the process and times when you’ll struggle with having inspections go wrong, renovations that don’t go according to plan, or a house that sits on the market longer than anticipated. With patience, however, fixing and flipping houses can become a reasonable source of income.
Learning to fix and flip houses effectively is a process that takes time. By choosing the right properties for all of your needs and forming the right business relationships, you can develop a more effective strategy that will allow you to earn more money. Need help securing the funds for your latest flip? Contact us today to learn how we can help.