Jan
31
Let’s Flip Some Houses
January 31, 2007 |
Ahh, the first post ever.
The goal with this blog is to detail my experiences in the wonderful world of real estate investment. My wife and I currently own two houses (our primary residence and a rental house) and I’ve recently (as of, umm, today) had an offer accepted for a third property, which I plan on fixing and flipping for a profit.
I have no plans to quit my day job or any crazy notions that I’ll make ridiculous sums of money in a month or two, with hardly any work on my part at all. It’d be nice if we all lived in magic HGTV-land, where people effortlessly flip houses for hundreds of thousands of dollars of profit without ever lifting a hammer, but that’s not the reality I live in, nor my plan.
My goal is to fix and flip 2-3 houses this year, with an average profit of $15,000/house. I’ll be doing nearly all of the work myself and am specifically going after houses that are in fairly solid shape as-is, and just need floors refinished, new bathroom tile, trim, paint, etc., all of which I can handle.
Long term, I’d like this venture to potentially turn into my full-time job, but I’m only going to make that leap if I can consistently make at least an equivalent salary flipping houses on the side for the next few years. While this is my first true “flip”, I’ve got many years of experience of doing light rehab work on houses, so I’m not exactly wandering into this blind.
We’ve got enough savings to devote to this that I could carry the note on any house I buy for quite awhile, so there’s not much strain as far as quickly turning things around (although that’d be nice) and cashing out profits.
That’s the basic plan, in a nutshell. I’m simply going to be brutally honest here and detail everything, as far as costs, labor, busted budgets, rookie mistakes, the whole shebang. I’ve done a lot of research but, like anything, there will be things I don’t think of and account for until I get my hands dirty, so there will definitely be some bumps along the ride.
Comments
1 Comment so far
Very informative web site….I am looking into doing the same thing….more scared that anything else….but think I can do it….I am very handy myself and can do most if not all work required…I am also in Central Texas