Flipping in Bay Area

[Sonia Gupta]

I want to get into the flipping business but is it really possible to flip properties in Bay Area in today's market? I have looked into Active listings (the shittiest properties also go above asking price which eats up all the profits of flipping), REOs (can find the properties but unable to find the REO agent), pre-foreclosures (unable to convince the owners to sell).

Are there people out there who are actively flipping in the bay area? 

[Darius Ogloza]

Yes.  We have flipped three properties in Marin County since June 2020.  We are now actively looking for a fourth since we plan to list within a couple of weeks.  

Whether a property sells above asking price is not really relevant to flipping. It is the difference between the ARV price and the purchase price that makes a difference. We focus on properties where the ARV is expected to be about 75% above the purchase price. If we find 2 or 3 per year, we consider that a good year.

Look for deep fixers (that scare away the retail buyers) especially properties listed by trustees/administrators who do not want to spend money cleaning up.