I have some questions on starting out. Would appreciate any help.

[Alaadin Alhamwi]

Hello BP community. I am very new to this website and I am very keen to learn about real estate and profiting off of house-flipping. Since I would like to move to California, LA when I finish sixth form ( High school) here in England , I am starting to think about how I am going to pay for my university. So here's my plan:

 I was thinking that I could buy small, semi-ruined house with small down payment with a loan I will be taking out from a bank or somewhere else. I would then live in the house while fixing it up and at the same time having a job (saving the money for the university and mortgage), then eventually sell the house for some profit that could help me.

I think that it's a pretty low-risk idea because i would be living in the house and there would be no rush to sell it. There are however, some problems I have come across and some questions I have.

How could I check the value of the neighborhood and surrounding houses?

How (roughly) big of a loan should I expect to take out?   I have an estimate but I would like your ideas.

Am I missing anything? I've had this idea for a while but since I have no experience and not very educated on house-flipping, I could be missing a lot of important things.

I would really appreciate any other beginner tips and advice since I have no experience and I am mostly educating myself through the internet and books.

thanks in advance  :)

-Alaa'din 

[Lelith Walker]

There is a lot of information missing: like how much you owe? the price range you are looking to buy? how long after fixing it up would you sell it?  how much of a profit do you need to make on it?  How much is the job paying you that is going to help you fund these properties?  How much will the income and property tax be?  Do they pay a separate school tax out there?  Flipping houses is not that easy even if you are handy.  The value of time is something that needs to be factored in as well as the money.  I've heard that California homes are rather expensive compared to the rest of the country.   Finding a good team is extremely hard.  I do not see flipping as a low risk idea even if you would be living in the property doing some of the work.  You may spend less money than some but you would be putting in more time.  Would you be doing all the work yourself like electrical, plumbing, sheetrock, flooring, windows, roof, landscaping, foundation (they do have earth quakes in some parts)?  I believe the earthquakes will drive up the insurance rate and if the home is in a flood zone well that's even more money.

To get a rough idea of how much homes are check out

http://www.housevalues.com/, http://www.eppraisal.com/ or http://www.zillow.com

When it comes to loans it depends on which institution you go to bank, credit union, etc.  They look at your credit, how long you have been on the job, how long you have been in your career, how much you make.  They send out their appraisers and they determine how much the home is worth.  A lot of banks will turn you down if the repair cost is half of the purchase price. 

My situation is different than yours but maybe you will learn something from looking at this video of what happened to me when I started out trying to flip. I am not in the video but my homes are and the guy speaking was the property manager. The previous manager who claimed to be in Jamaica during my flip was the former marketing director of the Georgia Real Estate Investors Association who had experience and came with recommendations.

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I do not want to rain on your parade.  I just want you to be careful and prepared.