Anyone 'flip' houses?

[zixxer]

I live in an area that is not in the middle of a 'housing bubble' - and is beginning to quickly grow.

I have the know-how to do a lot of what is involved in quickly renovating a house for sale (i.e. nice countertops, tile, wood floors, sheetrock work, some plumbing and electrical, etc..)



The only thing that I am completely unsure of is the 'real estate' aspect. Is it required to have a realtor? Am I better off either paying one, or taking the classes myself or what? I currently have a 9-5 - so if I were to do this the first couple would have to be an 'on the side' sort of deal.. i.e. I don't know that I can take the classes between a 9-5 and ~15 hours of classes.

Something I am almost completely unsure of is the loan side of things. Do loans exist that would allow me to borrow money for only a couple months? What is the down payment like?

 

[mugs]

I have a friend who does it (as his job). He gets loans from a private investor... interest rate is higher, but he doesn't have to go through the process of getting a loan from a bank. He could do a lot of the work himself, but I think he contracts a lot of it out so he can flip it faster and do a couple of houses at a time.

He has a realtor sell his houses.

 

[PowerMacG5]

Originally posted by: mugs
I have a friend who does it (as his job). He gets loans from a private investor... interest rate is higher, but he doesn't have to go through the process of getting a loan from a bank. He could do a lot of the work himself, but I think he contracts a lot of it out so he can flip it faster and do a couple of houses at a time.

He has a realtor sell his houses.

Just curious, how much money would you say he is making a year? I am debating dabbling a little in real estate, but don't want to invest the time if the return is not worth it.

Also, how many houses at a time does he do, and does he rent any out?

 

[TechBoyJK]

get real estate for dummies (seriously) take a week long boot camp class at your local college in real estate and home buying.

learn as much about the transaction yourself as possible because that is where a good part of the money is made (or lost).

 

[alien42]

so someone else is watching tlc.

i am actually looking for my first house which i plan on working on while living in. if i pull that off and make a profit then it is on to an actual flip.

 

[ruffilb]

Nothing that extreme, but we've always done well by moving into areas with high growth in housing.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: PowerMacG5

Just curious, how much money would you say he is making a year? I am debating dabbling a little in real estate, but don't want to invest the time if the return is not worth it.

Also, how many houses at a time does he do, and does he rent any out?

Well he's certainly not making a killing off it (he's also in Michigan, fwiw), but I think he makes a decent living. I think he does 2 houses at a time, and he also started building his first house from scratch a while back, not sure if he's done with that yet.

He doesn't rent any of the houses.