How to start flipping houses

[Bill Curley]

Hello, me and my wife are in the upstate NY area and would like to start flipping houses, I have no idea where to start with this. Could someone please give me some insight. Thank you

[Shane W. Chapin]

Hello Bill. Welcome to BP! I am in the Rochester area and have been actively seeking my first property. I am looking more for buy and hold investments with value add opportunity but am also open to a flip if it makes sense. Here is what I have done up to this point that may help guide you starting off:

List out your investment goals and life goals. You have to know WHY you are investing in real estate and what you are trying to achieve.

Read/listen to as many books and BP podcasts as you can. I am still amazed at the amount of information that is out there and how helpful other investors have been.

Know your skills that you can bring to the table, know your target market, how much capital you are working with and how much time you can spend on REI. This will identify who you may need to add to your team in order to succeed.

Speaking of team; look for REI meetups in your area and network. Find people who are doing what you want to do and try to learn from them. Find a way to provide some value to the relationship. Construction skills, capital, time, deals..etc.

Get the Pro account here on BP. The deal calculators are amazing and will help you identify a good deal rather quickly. Search properties and analyze as many deals each day that you can. Get involved in the forums and learn from other doing exactly what you want to do.

Last, take action! I'm sure by now you have heard of "analysis paralysis", which is easy to get caught up in, believe me! You will never feel like you know everything you "need' to know going in to a deal. Just do your best to educate yourself in order to mitigate the risks that are involved, run your numbers, and make offers!

Feel free to contact me as even without my first deal under my belt yet, I am willing to share what I have learned up to this point. Good Luck!