FLIPPING LIKE CRAZY!!!*** $156,000 in four months

Mark you have taken REI to the next level great job! and Truly amazing profit! Success to us all!

Robert.

I think flipping is the way to go for me but I'm being told that it's ILLEGAL to sell property for someone else without a license. They don't seem to understand that your contract gives you equatible interest and the "and/or assigns" allows you to transfer your equatible interest to someone else, so you don't need a license. I finally found a lawyer that understood what I was doing and said that it wasn't illegal as long as there's full disclosure like putting on the contract to the seller "I reserve the right to assign this contract" and "Property sold as is, no warranty" to the buyer (investor) regarding liens on the property.

I ran an ad and got a few leads, I'm scheduling a meeting this weekend with an owner who's selling his abandon property for $2,000 and I'll looking to arrange another meeting with another owner for $4,000...Wish me luck guys!

Hey Mark, glad to hear of your success. I wanted to know, are the homes you are working on in Iowa where you live or are you working in another part of the country? I'm wondering what is the better way to wholesale, local or long distance.
Thanks!
Amy

I see that a lot of people are asking questions and receiving no answers. I guess the author of this thread is not the sharing type.

I too was looking to see how it was done.

Great job!!!! I'm looking forward to doing things like that too.
No wonder you two are smiling in your pic.
Keep up the good work and let us know more.

David

That's the point David...he hasn't told us anything.

Wow you guys,

Now you can say, Bring us your finest meats an cheeses!
Great Motivation for us all!!

Thanks for sharing your info,
Denver

"I too was looking to see how it was done."

Check out my blog. Looking to share with other newbies and hoping they will share with me. Too much back patting here to learn anything. Waste of time for those who's looking to get started.

Blaine,

Welcome! Really. This is an excellent site, full of excellent folks helping each other.
The site can be challenging at first, but the members have helped by posting HOW TO's along the way.

As, for this particular thread, maybe the author has been too busy to get back to respond. Personally, I have tried to keep up with any questions I have asked or been asked, but keeping all the posts we contribute to takes organization, I am trying to get better.

Regardless of this thread, and if this author has the chance to come back and respond, may I suggest you try the following to get through the Back Patting (which we all need) and getting to the Nitty Gritty?

go to: DG site INSTRUCTIONS-how to use this site
This thread was started by our own Mike (reinvestor42), and includes many members' contributions, links to specific, useful info and wonderful things like Table of Contents created by our own MarkK.

You can also find more How-to's in the Deals and Success Stories forums. There are many that line out the deal specifics very well. I know I do.

Rest assured this site is chock full of useful knowledge. The pats on the back are necessary, generously given and graciously accepted, just not what you are seeking at this moment. At this moment you'll also see a lot of spam, which is not usually the case-- this site is very clean and to the point of RE only.

Stick with us. If you're looking to take action in RE, this is the place to be.

Wishing you well!

--Tina

I think Mark is splitting profits with a partner 50/50 but I am not sure.

That being said, how are you (Tina) locking up your flips then making 10-40K after the rehab consistently? You must have a good team in place as far as contractors, etc. I have made only 10-28K consistently and my team has constantly changed. Seeming good contractors turn bad. I feel like I start over with almost every flip. I am definitely wasting a lot of time in this regard. Any ideas

Judi

Judi, did it even occur for you to have your own construction company? I to was having problems with contractors and keeping the budget under control. I decided to build a team and now my cost are under control and the wirk is being done on gime. Actually, i am making more money on every flip because I have the ability to control my cost and the time when the renovation is completed.
Raymond

Hi Judi,
I have a leg-up when it comes to contractors because I have been a sub in the construction industry. I know a lot of the GCs and the labor teams. That doesn't mean I still don't have issues, but probably less. As for profit, you have to remember that I have been buying really, really low in Vegas. But, in the last 3 weeks that has changed and so will my discounts, then my profits. Also, I am not doing anything consistently quite yet-- I have a long ways to go!
A rich client told me if we can make $12K on a flip it's worth doing all day long!

Ways to treat the Construction team that might be helpful, sorry, but especially for a woman:

As soon as you are close to locking it up:
1. Do a cattle call of GCs- give them the basic scope and tell them to bring the appropriate subs with them and that you'll be doing a tour with other contractors at the same time (this lets them no you don't waste time, you know what you are doing and they have competition)
2. On the tour, pass out a basic scope (or you may have emailed it to them earlier) and they should all take notes on the tour-- answer questions as you tour, so they are all bidding the same time. Definitely discuss permits or no permits.
3. Ask them each top let you know their estimated completion time and let them all know you'd like the job done in less than month (or whatever is reasonable), you expect a clean jobsite at all times, and 3 times a week updates, plus depending on where you are that there must be one person on the job at all times that speaks English. Tell them you are available to them at all times, that they are important and should never let you hold them up. Be decisive and err on the side of what is the best value engineered method. Choose typical products, don't be fussy, tell them you'll spend $10 py on carpet installed, for instance, no more than $160 for an all in one 30" vanity/sink/faucet unit, for instance-- and over all that you only $8 psf for the whole job and you want them to make a reasonable profit-- and you need their help to value engineer this AND maintain reasonable warranties because when you sell this it may be to people you have a long term relationship with.
4. Request that their bids be in one week, and they can feel free to call you with questions as they go, and any scope changes will be circulated to all of them.
5. Out of 6 guys, you'll get 4.5 to show, and 3 to bid, but only 2 on time, and you may have to prompt them-- so send a reminder 2 days prior to your due date.
6. Finally tell them you ONLY DO CHANGE ORDERS if the is a major unforeseen item or occurrence, in which case you are to be notified right away BEFORE any costs are incurred.

EEEK, that was long, I hope it was not TMI or too basic for you!
Let me know if I can help with anything else.

-Tina

Raymond and Tina
Thanks for all the info and yes I have thought of having my own construction company, does this mean you are a licensed general contractor?

And sorry Mark for co-opting your thread

Judi

But not too busy to stop by and chat:) Sorry I haven't been back recently... truth is the last couple times I've tried to post, the site has said something to the degree of my posts being spam so I didn't think this post even made it through. I logged back in this morning for the first time in a long time and had a lot of pm's in my inbox so I figure I had better check it out.

It seems a lot of the questions are the same, wanting to know if I do wholesales or rehabs... 95% of my deals are rehabs... meaning I buy, fix and sell to homeowners. I don't do any lease options, no reason they're just not my specialty. And I rarely do assignments and my reasoning being, once you have enough cash coming in why make 5k when you can wait it out 4 months and make 20k.

Nearly all of me deals are bought as foreclosures, however I have recently been a part of a killer short sale deal and actually had lunch today with the top short sale agent in town and I told him I need him to make me his top investor/buyer.

I get all of my funding from two local sources... one hml finances the purchase of the house for the price he is comfortable owning it for and I am responsible for the rehab costs, and I then get the remaining profit. The second lender is a silent partner where he finances the entire project, both purhcase and rehab costs and we split the profit 50/50.

Some people say I give too much of the profit away, however, my philosophy is simple... do what it takes to get the deal done! There is no way I could do the deals I do if I didn't use partnerships. When you can consistently make people money you will never have a hard time finding it, so I figure for the first few years I will make others as much as I can till I can start borrowing from myself.

I have a few different realtors I work with that are all the best in their niche. One agent specializes is foreclosures, one in short sales and one is an agent I use to blast out offers if things get slow.

When it comes to offers I believe in constantly making offers no matter how many deals I have going on. As real estate investors, the only way we get paid is by getting offers accepted and the only way they get any accepted is by making them in the first place.

My rehabs... My rehabs are starting to make a name for themselves in town as they are almost always decked out to the tee. I buy them at the right price and basicly make them look brand new along with some really nice amenities in the kitchens and baths. I use the same paint, carpet, doors, trim, hardware, toilets etc. in every house. The only thing I change is the exterior color depending on the surroundings, the kitchen cabinets depending on the size and the tile backsplash depending on the color of cabinets. Having a systematic approach when dealing with a larger volume is essential.

Currently... The houses I have on the market all have accepted offers and are all set to close next month which should yield a total profit of approx. $75,000. I just finished one this week and already have a buyer lined up but she has to sell her house first, which usually I won't do, but she is putting 15k down as a non- refundable deposit and we will make roughly 35k on it when it sells ( not too bad for 2 weeks of work:) On top of that I have six more in the pipeline as accepted offers, just waiting on closing so I can get started on them. I am also just starting to look into commercial real estate and may be buying my first apartment building in the next couple months.

Soon... In the very near future I plan to start a mass marketing campaign using tv and radio, for me I need to leverage my time as best as possible, meaning do a commercail once and let it hit thousands of people repeatedly. My goal for next year will be 30 rehabs and a couple apartment buildings.

Thanks for reading, I really hope I answered the majority of the questions and a nutshell of how my deals are done. Im not that smart, I just have a ton of passion, drive and a plan... with those anything is possible.

God Bless!

Working with a few different realtors to gain access to their niches is a good idea and it expands your pool of properties to get offers on.

Tina, I appreciate your sharing the ways to treat the construction team. That is great info. Thanks.

Joe

Awesome Job!!! Keep it up!!!

Hi Mark,

Awesome story!

How did you choose your market to invest in in the first place? Diving into rehabs as a newbie, you had to know that the market you chose was ripe. What did you look for? A certain amount of activity in recent months?

Your feedback is appreciated!

Vincent

This is a great encouragement for all of us, and I can't wait to share with you my successes ASAP!!!

Keep up the great work!!!

Renae

I chose the market I'm in because thats where I live, therefore making it easier and more efficient to manage. I didn't neccessarily know my market was ripe for rehabbing, but what I did know after diving in was that I could buy some houses at a significant discount compared the rest of the houses in the area. On top of that I felt I could add value to the market by providing rehabbed houses with some really nice touches unlike anything else in the comparable price range.

That gives us all hope. Congrats

Hi Everyone, Im Roberta, new to DG. - I wanted to thank all of you for the wealth of wisdom/experience/knowledge you all willingly share on this site. It's been a great place for me to learn.

Mark and anyone this will help -- An alternate marketing campaign you could start immediately to leverage your time and have less of an expense until you can get around to commercials & radio is...An online automated webinar.

You create it once, it runs online 24/7, people locally or from around the world can build a relationship with you, experience your expertise at their convenience and move into your marketing campaign funnel for you to build your sellers/buyers.

Hope this helps,

Dabbling in real estate is an expensive proposition. The first expense is the property acquisition cost. While low/no money down financing claims abound, finding these deals from a legitimate vendor is easier said than done. Also, if you're financing the acquisition, that means you're paying interest. Although the interest on borrowed money is tax deductible, it is not a 100% deduction. Every dollar spent on interest adds to the amount you will need to earn on the sale just to break even.

Paying cash eliminates the interest, but even then, there are property holding costs, such as taxes and utilities. Renovation costs must also be factored in. If you plan to fix the house up and sell it for a profit, the sale price must exceed the combined cost of acquisition, the cost of holding the property and the cost of renovations. Even if you manage to overcome these hurdles, don't forget about capital gains taxes, which will chip away at your profit. (To learn more, read Fix It And Flip It: The Value Of Remodeling.)

2. Not Enough Time
Renovating and flipping houses is a time consuming business venture. It can take months to find and buy the right property. Once you own the house, you'll need to invest time to fix it up. Before you can sell it, you'll need to schedule inspections to make sure the property complies with applicable building codes. If it doesn't, you need to spend more time and money to bring it up to par. Next, you'll need to invest time to sell the property. If you show it to prospective buyers yourself, you'll spend plenty of time commuting to and from the property and meeting with potential buyers.

If you are able to make a 10% profit on a house that cost $50,000, you'll make a $5,000 profit. For many people, it might make more sense to get a good job, where they can earn that kind of money in a few weeks or months via a steady paycheck - with no risk and a very consistent time commitment.

Not Enough Skills
Professional builders and skilled professionals, such as carpenters and plumbers, often flip houses as a sideline to their regular jobs. They have the knowledge, skills and experience to find and fix a house. Some of them also have union jobs that provide unemployment checks all winter long while they work on their side projects.

Watch: Flipping Properties The real money in house flipping comes from sweat equity. If you're handy with a hammer, enjoy laying carpet, can hang drywall, roof a house and install a kitchen sink, you've got the skills to flip a house. On the other hand, if you've got to pay a professional to do all of this work, the odds of making a profit on your investment will be dramatically reduced.

4. Not Enough Knowledge
To be successful, you need to be able to pick the right property, in the right location, at the right price. In a neighborhood of $100,000 homes, do you really expect to buy at $60,000 and sell at $200,000? The market is far too efficient for that to occur on a frequent basis.

Even if you get the deal of a lifetime, you need to know which renovations to make and which to skip. You also need to understand the applicable tax laws and know when to cut your losses and get out before your project becomes a money pit. (For related reading, see Foreclosure Opens Windows For Investors.)

5. Not Enough Patience
Professionals take their time and wait for the right property. Novices rush out and hire the first contractor that makes a bid to address work they can't do themselves. Professionals either do the work themselves, or rely on a network of pre-arranged, reliable contractors. (For more tips on how to make money flipping houses, read Top 5 Must-Haves For Flipping Houses.)

Novices hire a realtor to help sell the house. Professionals rely on "for sale by owner" efforts to minimize their costs and maximize profits. Novices expect to rush through the process, slap on a coat of paint and earn a fortune. Professionals understand that buying and selling houses takes time and that the profit margins are sometimes slim.

Bottom Line
Before you get involved in flipping houses, do your research. Like any other business venture, flipping requires time, money, patience, skill, and it will definitely wind up being more difficult than you imagined.

Randy Bailiff
Dean Graziosi Real Estate Investment and Life Coach

.

To me that is a very discouraging post, especially when much of it is a matter of opinion... In referance to the above let me give my thoughts and give our members hope for a better future. Flipping houses has made many a fortune when done correctly.

2) Not enough time... yes, it can be very time consuming or it can consume little to no time depending on how you run the project. With a competent contractor and/or subs overseeing the project one could stop by as little as once a day to once a week. I personally only stop by my projects once a day and sometimes not even that depending on what stage of the rehab we are at.

3) The real money comes from sweat equity... so not true... In the perfect world where everything goes right, yes, you can make more money on a rehab doing it all yourself. But, ask how much longer it'll take, will it look as nice and be as good of quality, and when doing all the work yourself you're not able to be out looking at other deals. I personally run multiple jobs at once, put in minimal time of actual labor and generally make 20k+ per house.

4) Knowledge is key... I'll give you that one. Completely agree! However when bought right it should be nearly impossible to lose money. I have yet to lose moeny on a house.

5) Professionals WAIT for the right property to come around??? Really? And, Professionals sell for sale by owner? again totally not true! The best rehabbers I know sell through agents because again, it takes time off there hands and frees up more time to enjoy life and search for more deals. Professionals never wait for deals to come around, we as professionals are always on the hunt for the next deal!

With all this being said, rehabbing is not an easy trade, however, it has made many people rich and has more than quadrupled my income from a job and for some getting out of the 9-5 life is heaven itself. Flipping done part time could easily pay an exra 40-60k a year and full time one could look to make 6 figure very easy, depending on location.

Mark and Randy,

I see both points of view. Mark you are fearless (or maybe you "do it" in the face of fear). I feel like my style is like yours; I DO.

I can see Randy's point, too, in that he's lined out a not-so-pretty picture for parts of the rehab venture. That viewpoint may be to let people know who are contemplating rehabbing that it's not for the timid-- it's tough, decisive work. Personally I love it and the challenges it presents to do just the right things for just the right reasons at just the right cost and to stay focused and unemotional.

Since you're on a roll answering, I have a question for you. You do very well on the deep discounts at purchase, but have you any issues with selling to the end buyer with regard to financing issues beyond your control? Speaking particularly about conventional or FHA appraisals coming up to the list price you need?

It's a huge problem in Vegas. Appraisals are consistently coming in almost 15% lower than a reasonable list price.

Thank you for the great thread!

-Tina

sure doesn't seem like what dean would teach us to do.

mark i agree with you wholeheartedly. i look forward to doing many rehabs in my investing career. i for one do not care how tough real estate investing is, it's tough on my schedule. not my bosses. i can be sick anytime i want. i can take off anytime i want. i can go to the rehab at 10 0 clock am not 6am because some stupid boss tells me i have to.

WALT

Yes, I sometimes have trouble having my properties appraised high enough. From my understanding with government loans anytime they see too much of a spread between the purchase and the resale it throws up a red flag... and if it changes ownership too many times too quick that also raises the flag. For example... On nearly all my deals, my lenders purchase the properties then immediately sell to me on contract, then I turn around in another few months and sell to the end buyer.

I, however, have never had one appraise for less than agreed on purchase price with the buyer. I have had one appraiser that had a hard time justifying comps and we brought to his attention the difference in condition of the other comparables and I had my agent pull comps from a little farther out to offer to the appraiser.

Generally with Fha they do two appraisals and take the lower. The first year I did this I had a lender that would purchase then sell to me on contract for 5% over then i had to provide the rehab costs, but on paper the numbers would look like a huge spread between transactions... such as recently

HE purchased for 45,000
Sold it to me for 47,250
I sold for 117,420

so for properties like that it usually takes a few extra weeks to run extra appraisals and go through the bull crap red tape, but I try to make it as easy on the appraisers as possible and provide them with before and after pics, sometimes a spread sheet of expenses, etc.

My other lender is similar but he also provides the rehab costs into the loan so the numbers will look like...

He purchased for 67,500
Sold it to me for 90,000
I sold it for 125,000

With this set up I have yet to have a second appraisal ordered and they have almost all closed on time, if not it wasnt due to underwriting.

So, if you have a lender that'll cover the rehab and roll that into the loan that may help a little. Aside from that, Im sure Las Vegas is a completely different market right now and it may be much harder to justify higher sale prices. Good luck!

you guys rock !

And I can also see what Randy's trying to say. REI takes commitment, knowledge, perseverance, and yes...courage.
Making mistakes is part of the process, but with the numbers being thrown around, you want to limit those as much as possible.
Nothing great has ever been achieved without a leap of faith. So bottom-line, you just have to jump!

Cheers.