New investor looking to fix and flip in Socal area

[Jonathan Yip]

Hello everyone, my name is Jonathan Yip. I'm a recent MBA grad in the Los Angeles area, coming from a background in business development, digital marketing, and brand strategy, looking to go into real estate investing full time. I've owned and managed a 4-unit property for a few years, and now I'd like to get started in fix and flip properties. I am extremely handy and do a lot of home improvement projects as a hobby - building furniture, installing fixtures/appliances, fixing things - so I'm willing to work with contractors as well as invest a lot of sweat equity into a property. I'm looking into areas like the San Fernando Valley, Lancaster, Palmdale, Bakersfield, and Fresno, since LA is a little out of my price range at the moment (not ready to get another mortgage yet... I want to stick with cash for my first flip, get my feet wet, and then expand into larger deals as I get the experience). I'm definitely open to any advice, suggestions, agent referrals, etc.

Hope to learn a lot from you all. Cheers!

[Brad B.]

Hi @Jonathan Yip. If you are going full time, I would not plan to work with contractors and invest sweat equity. You may increase the margin on the first flip but you'll waste precious time when you should be trying to find the next deal. Focus all your energy on finding deals. Once you get one, let the contractors run the rehab and you focus on finding the next deal using your marketing background. It's all about deal flow. Every problem gets solved with good deal flow.