Buy and hold-pay capex vs. Flip before capex and eat trans costs?

[Jack B.]

I've heard it said that you want to flip the property between 3-7 years otherwise you end up seeing all that money go out the window on major capex. I can especially see this on older homes being true, in markets like Seattle that make for great appreciation, but poor cash flow.

It also makes sense from the standpoint of re-leveraging that gained equity. But what about the transaction costs of doing this constantly? With 8% being typical between realtors fees, excise taxes, closing costs, etc, you really end up paying the money saved from not spending on capex on transaction costs instead, no?