8 Steps to Flipping a House

1. Figure out your financing. Are you going to use cash to buy and fix up the house? Are you going to use cash from an investor? How much cash do you have available?
2. Determine the type of house you want to flip based off of the amount of money you have to both purchase and flip. If you have less money to flip focus on an affordable condo or townhouse. If you have more money to flip a single family home could be the better option.
3. Are you just going to flip the house and sell it? Are you going to flip the house and rent it out? Know what you are going to do before purchasing and fixing up the house. If you are just flipping it you will want to do affordable fixes and if you are going to rent it out you want to do fixes that will stand the test of time.
4. Time is of the essence! Have helpers for your flip before you purchase the house. You want to get started working on the home the day of closing. Have a plan and order for what items need to be fixed and in what order.
5. Know your hourly rate! After you do a few flips you will know what your hourly rate is and don't do any work that is under your pay grade. Always hire out for affordable and time consuming projects so you can get the work done as quickly as possible.
6. Always network to find the best people to help with your flip projects so that you are never left desperate for helpers.
7. Work with a realtor who knows the market and can quickly find you an awesome deal on a house. Realtors know how to write an offer that will get accepted and can tell you what types of upgrades to do to the home to maximize your return on investment. They can also estimate what the home will sell for in todays market which is very helpful information to any investor.
8. After you close on the house, get to work quickly and stick to your plan. Two weeks before the home is completed have a realtor do a walk through and make suggestions. They should do another market analysis, do the listing paperwork, determine a listing price to sell it quickly and for the most amount of money, and give staging advice. A realtor can pre-list the home and network with other agents to possibly get it sold before it even hits the MLS. The other benefit to pre-listing is the agent can gauge the market and if there is nobody that is interested or everyone says its over-priced then you can adjust the price before officially listing it.

Please contact me at allisondeal@kw.com if you have any questions or are interested in flipping a home in the twin cities area.
Allison Deal
Realtor
Keller Williams Realty Integrity
763-257-3436