Does anyone else besides me have an interest in house flipping? Besides looking at all the cable shows out there on this subject, I've also read a few books.





Does anyone else besides me have an interest in house flipping? Besides looking at all the cable shows out there on this subject, I've also read a few books.
Some Douchebag: "[Pimp C] 12:43 am: its true we got to stick together the black people on SW CK you is teh condoleeza of SW"
Those days are long gone...
I'll be doing this with my 1st property, as I love to travel too much to settle down...
My "friend" is doing the same, trying to buy one right now, actually.
IMO one can still make money doing this if they run a tight ship and have good instincts.
that show is BS. They almost always show people having success, selling almost instantly.
Here's real life flipping:
You buy a property at a price that may be good, but maybe you overpaid. You underestimate how much rehab will cost. You don't have a know-it-all host telling you where to put your money and where not, so maybe you spent too much on something where you won't get a positive ROI. You end up either having to do everything yourself or paying contractors (which cut into your profits), who may or may not be reliable/professional. Then you put your house on the market and you might sell it, or you might not because even if it's a great house, people still are not buying right now.
So now you have to choose to sell it now at a loss or wait it out. Hopefully you don't have too much money tied up in this property (which you are probably paying interest on.) Oh yeah, you still have to pay taxes and insurance.
I've been doing this for a few months. If I dump everything now, I"ll break even. it sounds very appealing, but I'm waiting it out.




IMO, this phenomenon also aided in inflating the housing market.




I LOVE flip that house. I watch the shows everytime I see them on. I drive and look at houses that can be flipped, lol. I was just playing a flip that house game a little while ago too. I got mad cause I found it on a free ware site and got addicted while playing, I was over $1,000,000 and a pop up box said I had to pay for the game to continue. I thought it was supposed to be FREE WARE![]()
How many of you have ever worked with contractors? Should be 'nuff said. I know dozens of contractors. They tend to be good spenders at the SC. They also tend to be very difficult to work with.
Most "flip" houses available these days are in such poor condition that its unlikely the investor can rehab it all themselves.
That being said, I do know people who still make money doing this. I also know professional real estate people who have lost a TON.
"Have you ever been to American wedding? Where is the vodka, where's marinated herring?" - GB
"And do the cats give a shit? No, they do not. Why? Because they're cats."-from The Onion
Originally Posted by Mia M





if nothing else, for an 'amateur' the risks of loss now involved with 'flipping' now greatly exceed the potential rewards in the vast majority of circumstances. The primary reason of course is that, unlike the zero down mortgage financing that was readily available a year or two ago, these days the would-be 'flipper' will be required to have about 20% 'skin in the game' i.e. down payment ... thus will directly take a financial loss if the house has to be sold at a price level where the amateur 'flipper' can't recoup 100% of their investment.





Give it a chance Em!I've been watching some current episodes and now what they do is tell you about when they really sold the house and for how much. Before the Realtor would just tell you what they were planning to sell the house for.
Now you find out if they even ended up selling the house.
Some Douchebag: "[Pimp C] 12:43 am: its true we got to stick together the black people on SW CK you is teh condoleeza of SW"
I can't stress enough how you don't want to do this until at least after 2009.




^ absolutely, don't flip anything now. only for rental purposes. otherwise you will lose money. i've flipped 4(?) houses pretty successfully but i'm sick and enjoy doing it all myself (besides plumbing)
These days I like to count my money. I like to wash it delicately and iron it. Sometimes I dry it with some bounty to make it all nice and cuddly. I love my money... did I say that out loud?





I've been doing this sort of speculating for quite a while now, going along to compulsory purchase auctions for insolvency at the courts and seeing what is available in my area. Recently I came across two apartments - in blocks - up for offer which had an assessed worth of 1,500 Euro each - roughly 100 sq m living space - but needed renovation. I reckon with an investment of 10,000 for each apartment which will bring them up to a market value of 30,000. I can then either rent, which is probably better for me, or sell.
The market is complicated in the real world, but this is a very good time for speculating on property in Germany. I suspect it is just about to get interesting in the US too, when all the subprime properties come on the market, there is a glut and the prices drop into the cellar.





I read what she wrote. She thinks the show is bs because they always show the people having fast success on the house sales. I'm just telling her to give the new season a chance because they've made some "realistic" changes. But I mean, yea it's still tv..
Some Douchebag: "[Pimp C] 12:43 am: its true we got to stick together the black people on SW CK you is teh condoleeza of SW"



As with all investments, you invest/follow a particular industry because you love to work in that industry.
If you want to flip a house because there is money to be made, you are almost guaranteed to barely break even. If you want to flip a house because you love real estate and all the nuances and dynamics of the buyers, sellers and the market conditions, then you'll make substantial money
I have seen a lot of Flip The House....I watch it when I get ready for work. The only time they ever showed someone not making money was this new age hippie, and made her out to be some kind of freak. It's like when they show failures, it's in the, "well, she's really dumb and I'm not, so that won't happen to me" way.
I think the shows succeed by showcasing positive aspects of flipping. TV is a fantasy and HGTV and channels like it survive off the "if she can do it, I can do it" aspect of the project."
I'm not saying it's impossible to make money. I'm saying those shows don't show all the aspects of flipping.
Obviously everyone that goes into it thinks they are going to make money. More people don't than the show lets on. I'm lucky that my worst case scenario is to break even. I wasn't even expecting to flip. I got into it to be a landlord but in the middle of my project (i.e. after investing a lot of money), the city changed a lot of the ordinances for landlording. Basically, I'd have to spend a lot more money and get a property manager.
But all in all, I'm glad I tried it. You gotta take some risks in life and as long as you have realistic expectations and can afford a failure, then I say go for it.
Well, you all...those shows were filmed a couple of years ago when the market for house flipping was hot.
That is not to say that you cannot still make money in flipping...but you have to plan much, much better.
We have investor friends who are buying up houses (we short sale the houses for them) and repair them and rent them out.
You make the most money by owning property...not by flipping, although you can make a nice sum that way, as well.
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