How Do You Buy Houses To Flip?

homealone · #1 07-29-2011, 10:47 PM

I was just curious on how those of you who do flip houses actually find those houses to flip.

Do you buy only auctioned homes, foreclosed homes, just driving around or maybe even through friends or family?

I see a lot of homes these days that are for sale and some are in some really nice neighborhoods. These places look amazing outside, and I'm a bit surprised that they haven't sold yet.

Any how as I said I was just wondering how you all manage to find the houses that you intend to flip? Who knows one of these days I might get into the game, but I doubt it.

nicohohman · #2 08-31-2011, 04:56 PM

To find a house to flip, you have to find a house that - when you are all done with your renovations - will sell quickly. It can be any type of property, really. However, foreclosures and short sales are often used because they are typically less expensive that a typical home for sale.

Even though that house looks really nice on the outside, it might have no toilets inside at all. When you flip a house, you should develop a plan that targets a certain home buyer. So if you live in an area where home buyers love granite, you better put granite in your flip.

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flippinout · #3 12-08-2011, 10:47 PM

A man in our area bought the old house across the driveway from me and is planning on fixing it up. Its a two story house with no real basement in it but when it is finished, it will be back in the shape it was in when it was first built and it was one of the first houses here in our little town.

Theres going to be a lot of work involved in getting it back the way it was but it will be worth it when finished. I dont think he has any plans of selling it but will use it as a second home more or less.

Although once it is fixed up, it will make a really nice home for someone and he could more than get his buying price back.

BT5150 · #4 02-05-2012, 12:09 AM

There are a lot of different ways to buy a potential flip house, these days, there's a lot of inventory that's listed on MLS, bank-owned properties, short sales, etc. I have bought some through sheriff's auctions as well, but those can be much trickier, one thing I ALWAYS did was to pull a title search on anything I would bid on (I had a guy that would do them real cheap for me) to see if there were any outstanding tax liens on a property (not just property tax, could be federal tax) because usually those can stay with the property after its auctioned off. I have bought a couple through word-of-mouth, too. I sell real estate, too and I can tell you that a house for sale that needs ANY work done on it will either not sell or will have to go very cheap, because easily 95% of home buyers do not want to touch a house that needs work. That's the key, being able to find something cheap, that needs some work done, getting the work done for a reasonable price and then reselling it.

thehebrewhero · #5 02-21-2012, 08:04 PM

Its just my opinion but the best way to get optimum pricing is at a auction. HUD, FHA list houses on MLS but any house that you see through a realtor just isnt cheap enogh to make lots of money. I've sent tons of offers and never got a good price. Auctions tend to be where a houses last stop is. Its also where houses are beyond a simple "roll up your sleaves and get to work applys" A flip house should be structurialy sound but distgusting. You can shoot low ball offers to banks but 1 out of 50 will be ok.

flippinout · #6 02-22-2012, 04:38 AM

Thanks for the advice. I do tend to agree that an auction would be a great place to pick up "flip" houses. A lot of times each county will auction off homes because the taxes were not paid on them and this would be another way to pick up houses for flipping and a lot of times you can pick them up relatively cheaply.