Newbie in Connecticut

[Kevin Keene]

Hello, everyone!  My name is Kevin and I am very interested in flipping houses.

To start, I should probably say I am in the military and not really in the position to start flipping immediately, but my wife and I are very interested in making it our career when I retire in a few years.  We want to flip one or two houses within the next 5 years (not at the same time) as a "dry run" to see how well it works for us.  I have always been interested in owning property.  We currently own two houses and I was looking at buying rental property a few years ago, but then I deployed, so we never put that into action.

I have been reading a lot on this site and have taken the 70% rule to heart, among other tips and rules. I am very good at spreadsheets and I have already begun making some, using math to best guess whether or not a property would be worth investing. I use websites to estimate ARV based on recent sales, but I am still learning comps. I'm not looking at buying now, but I did want to start wrapping my mind around the ins and outs of buying, fixing, and selling in short durations.

I know market influence on income is a difficult way to make a living, so my goal is to make a bankroll to be able to fund my first flip with straight cash.  That way, I won't be using any of my paycheck to rehab, taking some of the stress off my shoulders.  I am aware that even with a contractor team, unexpected costs, and holding costs associated with it, will add up.

After reading this site more and more, I am also learning about wholesaling and Tax Deed Sales.  My mother tried to quit deed her house to me, but after a lot of research on the process and learning her motives, I avoided that like the plague.  The good news is that I learned a lot about that, too.  Anyway, wholesaling and foreclosures seem to be up my alley.  That tax deed stuff seems like more of a headache than I am willing to put in to this career, but still, I am sure there are some gems out there for people interested in that.  We also participate in storage auctions, but that's for another forum :)

Whew, I'm going on pretty long... sorry!

So, my wife and I have decided to look in to getting real estate sales licenses.  I have looked in to classes, but we ran into a snag.  There are different rules for different states, classes, hours, etc. and I don't know in what state I will retire.  Is any one state easier than another?  Can I take classes for one state and get licensed (before I retire) and then transfer that to another state?  I also know that being a real estate agent (I have learned the difference between REA and Realtor here!) instead of being an investor creates different rules of ethical disclosure to potential buyers, and I have a pre-legal degree, too.  We were thinking maybe I could go to law school and my wife become the real estate agent.

Regardless, I signed up for this site to network and learn more.  When I talk, I want to know the appropriate lingo of the business so I am clearly stating my desires to contractors and real estate investors/agents.  I want to make sure I know what to look for and how to get it.  That's really why I am here.

Please don't feel like I am wasting your time just because I plan on taking it very slow.  My wife and I are very serious about doing this type of work and I love learning everything I can about any topic I pursue.  Thank you for reading all of this and I look forward to talking with all of you!

-Kevin