Flipping That House
Posted on Friday, October 30th, 2009
Now that real estate and housing prices have fallen to their lowest in relation to income in decades, it seems everyone with a few bucks in the bank and a paint brush in the garage wants to get in on the house flipping fad. TV shows, reality programs, friends of friends, weekend seminars – no matter where you turn, someone is trying to show you how to buy, fix, and quickly dump a newly remodeled home for a nice profit.
Flipping is not for the weak of heart, the easily bored, the afraid of commitment crowd, or anyone without access to virtually unlimited funds. If you are a first timer doing this, think twice before getting involved unless you have professional experience in some of the building trades: carpentry, plumbing, landscaping, etc.
Understand that you are going to need to get your hands dirty! Whether you like it or not, unless you can pay to have everything done for you, this is the name of the game.
How much cash can you devote to this project? If you have a very limited budget, this will be a problem. You must plan on encountering unexpected problems, and these are usually pretty expensive issues to deal with. If you find the septic tank is leaking and you only have $3,000 left…you have a major problem.