Flipping Houses - Closed On First Property

[Chase Ezell]

My wife and I just closed on our first property. It is a single family, residential home in a good neighborhood. Based on our goals, we will be flipping but do have plans for multi family rentals in future. Listed for 58,500 and we closed at 43,000. The ARV is 98,000- 105,000. I have a contractor, which is an old friend. He will leading most of the rehab but most of the cosmetics, I will handle. Any advice for us?

[Jennifer Petrillo]

Don't overimprove, know what people in the local market are looking for and don't forget that the buyer's mortgage company will get an appraisal and, if your house appraises high, buyers might have trouble getting a loan for it or will have to make up the difference (or you will have to drop your price). Plan out a detailed scope of work in advance and stick to it!

Save half the commission when you sell by using Realmart or a similar online MLS listing service, for a flat fee of a few hundred dollars they put you on the MLS and then realtors will bring buyers to you without you having to pay a listing agent of your own. For extra bucks, you can add on other services like open houses, photographs, brochures and signage.

Also, time is money when flipping. Get it fixed up and back on market as soon as you can, for us this has meant working evenings and weekends to do so or spending extra money here and there to bring in someone else to do certain things (depends on which you value more...your time or your money).

And curb appeal! So important! Most buyers will first see your home as a picture on a computer screen, if it does not really pop, they will not bother seeing it in person!

Let us know how it turns out, best of luck!