New to BP,located in Louisiana, Advice wanted

[Susan Aleksic]

Hi BP!

I have been reading and researching for 2-3 weeks on real estate investing (and still reading).  My Plan: I want to start with wholesaling to: Get my feet wet, clear up a few personal finances (3-4 deals probably do that), and then start building income for the next step of flipping.  

Flipping: I have seen my sister do a few (strictly part time/diy), but I want to fast track it using the best methods and avoiding pitfalls.  Bought my house (was a foreclosure and did cosmetic repairs and roof etc.  It has some equity but not enough yet.  Id like to close in a porch and connect another room - add square footage and then sell it because the sq ft payoff would be well worth it.  

Eventually as I do flips I will evaluate those whether to keep as buy/hold- rentals.  My goal is to buy land and build my dream home within 7 years in NC and continue building my portfolio and ENJOY life while I'm younger(ish).

I do work a job, it is 4 days/week FT.  I have Mon-Wed off and most afternoons off, so I have time to invest.  But I want to make the best use of that time.  I have one or 2 real estate agent contacts (1 does house flips), and I have an idea for Title company - but haven't looked into what deals they do yet.  Financing:  My credit is good, but again I want to clear up some personal stuff first for peace of mind.  No partners in sight right now.

Questions I have:

Accurately calculating the rehab costs versus ARV especially without seeing it first. Should I create a master doc of possible repairs/costs and then plug in what I think a house would need? Then go see the house and fine tune it if it seems to be a deal?

Finding flips/wholesales that are NOT in crime-prone areas, or if there is a way of doing those without ever setting foot in those areas.

I live in Denham Springs LA. 2 years ago we had a great flood. (my house came within 2 inches of flooding- but did not flood. So there are some flooded houses - gutted and ready for rehab, but I know that the vast majority of them are in flood risk areas ( I can double check with FEMA flood zone maps). Flood insurance can be really high. My sister has one property where the quote came in at $8k/yr. That takes a lot of percentage off the ARV value because its $250 (43k flood/yr) - $600/mth just for flood insurance. How do you factor this in - or do you just avoid all these houses?

Mobile homes with land seem to be on the high side; those without/need moving and rehabbing; yes there are tons of mobile homes around here.

Can a person work on wholesaling virtually to different parts of the country?  Im interested in west NC/ east TN areas - its a region I would like to eventually relocate to.

Came across 2dayblueprint.com (Jason Palliser) in some of my searches.  Not much feedback.  They have a mentoring program and looks like an all in one platform to help organize each step and also help find deals as the pop up.  Anyone have experience with this place?

Thanks for reading all of this and thanks in advance for any feedback/advice.

Susan