I am in the process of flipping a house on the lake that my grandparents built for a cabin before they built their main house. Any advice on finding other houses to flip? I kind of fell into this one and already have offers but thinking about doing another one

I look for them everyday in Tuscaloosa. Best advice I can give you is to have cash and be ready to jump on something when you find the right one. It's extremely competitive

Get on some wholesalers lists. You most likely won't find them on MLS lists.

Look for foreclosure houses in your area.

I send out a weekly list of all the foreclosures in the Tuscaloosa area, www.ttownforeclosures.com

I don't have as much experience in this as others but I do have two pieces of advice.

Make the house you are trying to flip the nicest it can be within reason in the price range you are in. You want the potential buyers to remember your house above all the others in a certain price point. I don't mean put $150,000 in a $85,000 house. I mean put $90,000 in a $85,000 house.

Buy the house in a desirable school district. I'm in Oxford and in my area, Oxford is the school system that most everyone wants to be in. There are lots of houses in Anniston, Saks, Wellborn, etc. school systems but I have no desire to try and flip one in those areas.

Outdoor obsession is big into real estate I think.

I know some who do very well flipping and I know some who've went broke trying to flip. It's not as easy as it appears and you better really know your stuff, from property values to estimating rehab cost on the fly.

I flipped a Mustang once.

You have to choose a market and know it like the back of your hand. You need to be able to quickly look at a house and know what it's worth and what it will cost to renovate barring unforeseen circumstances, then add $5-10k for those oops moments. Have cash or line of credit. You can't get the good deals if you can't close quickly. Know somebody who's in the know. I have an agent who deals pretty much exclusively with shorts and foreclosures and another person who does appraisals on them for banks. They can let you know what's coming to market.

Lastly, foreclosures have dried up on the last couple years. It's a lot harder than it was a few years ago.

My wife flips houses and she stays busy.

I've done several of them. Make sure you know that if you sell the house within a year of purchasing, you will have to pay more capital gains than if you sell after a year. I flipped one that was nearly demolished and after fixing it up I rented it for a year, then sold it. Also, homeowners insurance can be quite high if it is considered an unoccupied dwelling. Put a cot in the house and let one of your relatives sleep their on rare occasions. Factor in real estate taxes as well. I only look for foreclosures that I can pay cash for.

Pick an area for the type of buyer you are looking for. If you buy in the hood you will have to sell to a hood dweller. Look for for sale by owner for the best prices

Sorry, saw your post last night but couldnt respond.

Yes, I am a custom home builder, but we also flip a lot of houses. We sold 3 we did this winter in January.

Im also doing 3 right new ones right now., 2 we bought Feb 8th, and finished renovations the 1st week of March and are already on the market. The 3rd we will finish this mon or tues.

I am also a Licensed realtor since the 1990s, so I get to know what the market is where I operate, plus have full access to the MLS system and information, comps , etc.

Flipping is great and if youre careful it really pays. Weve been flipping houses for 27 years! We started when we were young.

The key is location. Always buy in good locations. We buy the worst houses in the best areas.

You have to know real estate values well too,...but even if you dont you can figure the area out through Zillow/Trulia.

Look up similar houses in the area, and pay close attention to the price per sq ft that SOLD houses got. Not what FOR SALE houses are asking.

SOLD houses are what counts determining the $/sq ft the area GETS. Multiply your flips sq ft by the price per sq ft of sales and youll get a good idea of what it will be worth finished.

The FOR SALE houses though will let you view the competition (Other houses 4 sale in the area) in regards to amenities and other things too.

The other thing is the cost of repairs. You have to know what everything will cost. For beginners I recommend paying for a Home Inspector to look at any house you find.
If he finds a roofing issue, HVAC, etc...you need to get a guy who does that work to give you an estimate on the costs of each.
I luckily through experience know the costs as we go through a house as it is what we do, build houses and I have crews for every trade I know well.

We do a "Property Analysis" on each property as we walk through it. We determine the costs of exterior repairs, landscaping, interior repairs, systems etc.

Ours we do a room buy room cost estimate; LR, BR1, BR2, Mstr, Mstr Bath, Bath 2, Kitchen, etc. We write down everything; paint, flooring, ceiling fans, lights, etc costs per room as well.

We include "Period Holding" Costs; How much will utilities be for 6 -8 months? Insurance? everything.
Then we know pretty much costs and ADD 5% for hidden latent defects on the total repair costs.

The we subtract that from the "Projected Price" ( our comps multiplying sq ft x dollars per sq ft of SOLD houses).

Subtract the commission for selling it (at 5-6 % it is 5-6 THOUSAND $ per 100k), it is more then most major renovations you could do, and is a BIG number and CANNOT be over looked.
( Now you know why I became a realtor early into our flipping years!)

I keep half that money AND get paid 3% when buying each property.

If the remaining amount looks like its a good return on your investment...go for it!

We like to aim for a 20 - 30 % return, but Ill do em for 15% all day long as well.

Any other questions feel free to ask. I love real estate investing.

As to finding them, they are every where! I dont just do HUDs, Fannie maes and freddie macs!

I do estate sales, other bank owned property and even a lot of just deferred maintenance private homes.

Drive areas youre interested in. See and empty house? Look it up and call. Many times youll find someone passed away and the heirs have it, and are still figuring out what to do with it.
Call or send a letter..you might be suprised! We find alot like that.

many will have 3 out of state kids or MORE who inherited it. Theyll say the want 100,000 for a house ( 33,333 each) but when you offer 70,000 youll end up at $75 pretty quickly as it is 25,000 each. That is 25% off asking price. You can make MORE in Negotiations then RENOVATIONS!

A penny saved is a penny EARNED!

I suggest reading the Presidents BOOK, "the Art of the Deal". Trust me, if you dd youll understand why he walked away here.

You walk away..you A LWAYS get a better deal when you come back to the table. ( IE. Turn down my initial offer..it gets LOWER in the future when you still havent made a deal!)

Ive found inheritors will go for the quick money everytime. Its only 8 k less per person so they seem to go down quicker.

We find a ton of buildings just driving and looking. Many Bank foreclosures were held off the market when the crash happened, and many tried to reconcile but still got foreclosed on when they didnt stick to the terms of reconciliation with the lender.

The fed ( Fannie Mae and Freddie mac) has held a lot of properties off the market so they wouldnt flood the market and cause THEIR OWN properties to lose value.

ALL the last 3 Ive bought have been empty for 1 1/2 to 3 years since they were foreclosed!
The best part about that is NONE of them have the "Right of Redemption", which is a clause that allows a foreclosed person to recover his house within 1 year of the foreclosure date.

So go look and find a few. We look at alot to pick each one, as only certain properties will make you money after doing the "Financial Renovation Analysis" I mentioned above.

And above all esle...never fall "IN LOVE" with a property. It is BUSINESS. If you cant get it for the price you want...WALK AWAY.

If you dont youll lose money. There will be more..find the RIGHT one.

Heres the 2 we just put up for sale so you can see what we do. We use a "Cookie Cutter" Method and do the same type things in each house.


This is a 1460 sq ft starter home. When the builder built it he used cheaper finishes, vinyl, carpet, laminate counters etc. We updated it and put in Granite, Tiled wet areas, hardwds, new appliances, new garage dr ( the old owner ran their car through it!),new lights, ceiling fans, fixtures, etc and repainted the whole house.


zillow

This one is a 1900 sq ft patio home in Decatur:

zillow zillow house 4 sale www.zillow.com/homes/454-Covina-Dr,-Decatur,-AL-35603_rb/

Try to make them the best value for the best price is what we do. We do them so we could live in them,..we dont cover up anything...we FIX buildings. We also give a 1 yr warranty so buyers feel good about their purchase.

Again, any questions you or anyone has just PM me. Id be happy to help.