Newbie interested in flipping

[Emmanuel Kanu]

About how much capital should one save before looking to invest in a rental property or a property your looking to flip? 

[Evan Polaski]

@Emmanuel Kanu, as noted, it is impossible to answer.  Some people are very good at budgeting and can likely keep their capital reserves tighter.  I, generally, want to make sure I have 130-150% of my total estimated costs (acquisition + rehab) available.  This can be all cash, or a combination of loans and cash.  While it may be conservative, having a big cushion of available capital has allowed me to get through many sticky situations that were not foreseen going in (main stack and sewer lines being the most common). 

For numbers: if I am looking at a 100k purchase + 50k rehab = 150k total cost project, I would want $200k+ available to tap into, if needed.  If I used a lender that loans 80% of total cost, I would still want $80k+ of cash available.  $120k coming from loans, and the remainder being my cash.

In this market, the best way to lose money on a flip is to run out of money halfway through, and no capital available to you.