When to rent vs. when to fix and flip?

[Mohammad Haidarasl]

Hey guys. As I've stated in my last post, I'm in the process of looking for a local single family home to either rent or fix and flip and will be looking to use a private FHA loan, hopefully. With that said, I know BP has some calculators online that I'm still familiarizing myself with. Is there anything to look for when deciding whether or not a property is better to fix and flip vs when it's better to just rent? The reason why I'm asking is because Brandon's story of losing 10k and 2 years worth of effort at his first attempt to invest scared and enlightened me simultaneously. So, what do you say?

[Christopher B.]

Considering just the property and the financial side of the equation it comes down to the numbers and the area. What does the sales history for homes in that area look like? Do houses fetch top dollar, how long are days on market, do people want to live there? I generally determine this by the rating of the local public school, nicer school attracts buyers. However some areas can defy this. There are revitalizing areas in bad school zones that young professionals will pay top dollar to be in, etc. Financially, what do the numbers look like. If the house is in a tougher area to sale in then you need to make sure it cash flows well. Nicer areas tend to be more expensive so your cash flow may be lower but that's covered by the supposed higher quality tenant you can attract and the highrr appreciation you will see. Never buy for appreciation though.