How to Find More Homes to Fix & Flip?

[Josh H.]

Hello BiggerPockets Community,

I am in a little bit of a situation and looking for help. My wife and I have been flipping homes for the last three years, we have flipped 30 houses with all of them being profitable. My wife quit her job to focus on Real Estate about 1.5 years ago, due to no longer being able to work in the corporate world. I have been helping her manage the contractors on the weekends, and going out to the properties to do some work as they were being prepared to sell. 

A couple of months ago, I got laid off from my job that paid $100K+ per year. We figured that we could sustain and maintain our lifestyle by doubling down efforts on flipping - especially since we have a little more than a year's worth of money, if we did no more flips in that time. However, we have worked very hard to build that capital and don't want to spend through it. We need more flips!

The problem is we have found it very hard to find good flips over the last few months in the Washington DC, VA and MD area. With construction cost, material cost and the houses (even in bad condition) cost an amount that the flips are not profitable. We are checking off market sources (such as Facebook groups) as well as the MLS. The deals are just so hard to come by, and they get bid up to where they are not profitable.

How can we find more houses to flip? 

Any advice would be very appreciated.

[Steven Goldman]

If you put together a team in the area you are targeting and, are willing to pay some reasonable wholesale fees, the wholesalers will find the distressed property owners. They are off market deals. If you do not want to pay a wholesale, fee you can find properties which look distressed, locate owners info and, call or, door hang them. I have had a lot of luck in Delaware County just outside of the Philly limits by teaming with a rehabber. He organizes and performs the construction. I provide the capital and we split the profits as members of an LLC. When he is working in those areas he has signage on his truck, on the property, advising the neighborhood we are buying. We get off market estate and distressed properties. Often, from older households, who are more negotiable because of their acquisition price. It is not a formula for everyone but you need to think outside the box, if you are going to operate in a high price, high material cost and interest rate environment. Looking forward to better market conditions in the future! Keep pushing forward.