New Construction "flips"

[Anna Strausbaugh]

Hi! I've recently been considering a new avenue of "flips" in our market here in Boise and wondering if anyone else is doing it or if it's worth it to do (particularly if it's worth the tax hit)? I'm a real estate agent, but also an investor and in this market that is tight trying to find good cash flow in long term rentals or margins on flips often being pretty tight as well if you aren't doing a lot of the work yourself. I've been seeing an interesting opportunity in buying new construction at the pre-construction phase and locking in your price early, then by the time it is finished you've gained $100k in value (sometimes more, sometimes less). Then you sell once it's completed and get great returns because there's so little inventory of completed new construction homes. Anyone else doing this? I'm trying to get my husband on board with the idea as he's much more conservative than I am when it comes to new investment ideas. I feel like it's fairly safe as long as we buy in neighborhoods that allow rentals, that way we can always rent it out if things go sideways and we can't get what we want for the place. I do feel like it would be a big tax hit on that gain if we don't hold it for long. Thoughts on this?