If you had one question for a professional house flipper, what would it be??

[Rene Hosman]

If you had one question for a professional house flipper, what would it be?? 

Now is your shot to ask! James Dainard is a prolific professional house flipper, with a track record flipping nearly 4,000 homes in one of the most competitive real estate markets in the US - Seattle, WA. To celebrate his new book Flipping Framework, he's taking questions from the BP community and answering them here this weekend!! 

Want to get more of your questions answered about starting your first flip or building your flipping business? Check out James' new book Flipping Framework on sale THIS WEEKEND for Black Friday. Get your copy at the best price ever, right now here!

[Rene Hosman]

@James Dainard I just took on my first flipping project and I used a hard money loan for 100% of the purchase price at 15%, I'm paying for the renovations in cash. I don't feel like I weighed all my options before purchasing because I was on a tight timeline - so for my next deal this is my question for you: If you're just getting started on your first flip and you had ANY funding source available to you - what would be your recommendations of top 4 funding sources in order of your preference?

[Patricia Redsicker]

My husband and I have other property investments but recently, we established an LLC to start doing fix and flips in Baltimore City/County/surrounding areas. Baltimore City has a massive vacant housing crisis (no surprise there!). However, the City initiated the "Buy Into Baltimore" open bid program (which we're interested in participating) through which you can bid/buy city-owned abandoned/vacant properties for redevelopment/resale.The problem is, there are so many blighted neighborhoods in Baltimore, it's tough to know where to start. Our goal is to help tackle this crisis by rehabilitating one unit/block at a time. Has anyone looked into this issue? How did you start? How did you decide which neighborhood/street/zip code to start with? What was your approach? Appreciate all your feedback.

[Shaylynn O'Leary]

I am currently looking at my first investment property. The property needs to be rehabbed. Initially we thought we would flip, but now we're thinking of holding and using the equity for future investments. What formula or criteria do you use to decide whether to flip or to hold? I'm interested in hearing different perspectives. Thank you

[Ryan H.]

To what extent does landscaping typically add value to a property for the purposes of appraisal and re-financing, compared to other improvements? Is the old adage that landscaping doesn't get any ROI in a middle-class market still true? And most importantly how do design your landscaping?

[Shayan Sameer]

I have a few questions for all the fix/flip investors. I did 2 fix flips last year. One, I made a profit; other one, I kinda even out. I learned a lot from both projects and hope to learn more. I wanted to know what are your thoughts on the 70% rule. Do you guys still apply that rule? For all the deals here in South Florida, I'm not able to do 70%, and it seems like the profit margin is really small. What dollar amount or percentage do you guys usually look for in fix/flip properties?

My 70 % rule...

ARVx70% - rehab cost = purchase price.

[Kara Matson]

I'm a first time homebuyer trying to add multiple touches to my starter home. We have minimal resources as far as money goes, but we have a relatively long list of upgrades (window treatments, hardware, light fixtures, paint, etc). Right now we're just kind of doing upgrades along and along. Any tips or tricks on how to source fixtures and finishings or general construction supplies? Is there something better than just going to home depot?

[Okolie Julius]

Do you know about real estate market in Uk. How can one obtain finance to flip a property in London; what are the options?. I am new to this platform. Would you be able to advice on how I can find out ?

[John Williams]

How much do you pay in taxes?

[Ryan Konen]

"What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned about managing risks in flipping houses?"

[Bud Gaffney]

Nothing. BUY AND HOLD : )

[Lorraine Hadden]

What are the pros and cons to being a house flipper?

[Mark Cruse]

Quote from @Patricia Redsicker:

My husband and I have other property investments but recently, we established an LLC to start doing fix and flips in Baltimore City/County/surrounding areas. Baltimore City has a massive vacant housing crisis (no surprise there!). However, the City initiated the "Buy Into Baltimore" open bid program (which we're interested in participating) through which you can bid/buy city-owned abandoned/vacant properties for redevelopment/resale.The problem is, there are so many blighted neighborhoods in Baltimore, it's tough to know where to start. Our goal is to help tackle this crisis by rehabilitating one unit/block at a time. Has anyone looked into this issue? How did you start? How did you decide which neighborhood/street/zip code to start with? What was your approach? Appreciate all your feedback.

You have to understand the city. You have to know so much about the area you are in. It goes block by block so you must know what's happening. There are dozens of things to consider. If you get a boarded-up trap house, you may not be able to sell it or rent it. You are stuck. If the block is crime ridden, in so many instances what you put in it one day is gone the next day. You have to understand repair costs, ARV and many other things. Suppose you bid and get it for 25k? Sounds damn good right? What if the ARV is 75k but takes 175k to get it to code? Baltimore City is tenant friendly and very hostile to investors. While you are renovating, a squatter can break in and declare its theirs and could take you a year to get them out. Also, Baltimore has so many silly inspections, fees and fines they issue for little to no reason. It never stops. If you are not on top of so many things it a great chance you can lose. I'm not sure about Baltimore but in DC, if you take on one of these that is already boarded up, the day you take possession they fine you and put on some strange tax because of it. Baltimore is a city where thousands of investors around the damn world are watching and jumping in on bidding and other things. In so many instances, the stuff that is doable is gone and only garbage is left. Just make sure you are getting something that can work and seriously assess where and what it is. Good luck!!!

[Taylor Dasch]

For me, it would be how do they source deal flow - cold calling, google ads, fb ads, etc. 

[James Dainard]

Quote from @Rene Hosman:

@James Dainard I just took on my first flipping project and I used a hard money loan for 100% of the purchase price at 15%, I'm paying for the renovations in cash. I don't feel like I weighed all my options before purchasing because I was on a tight timeline - so for my next deal this is my question for you: If you're just getting started on your first flip and you had ANY funding source available to you - what would be your recommendations of top 4 funding sources in order of your preference?

1. Construction loan through a hard money lender - where your purchase price and rehab budget are factored into the loan, this will give you the highest cash on cash return

2. Commercial bank or local business bank - where they will fund as much of the purchase price and rehab budget as possible, typically will have a lower interest rate than option 1

3. For a live-and-flip - take out a 3% down FHA loan that way you can keep your cash to pay for the renovations

4. Private financing where an investor can get a loan from an individual rather than a conventional loan because you can get more leverage and have more room to negotiate

[James Dainard]

Quote from @Ryan H.:

To what extent does landscaping typically add value to a property for the purposes of appraisal and re-financing, compared to other improvements? Is the old adage that landscaping doesn't get any ROI in a middle-class market still true? And most importantly how do design your landscaping?

 In all 4000 of the flips we have worked on, we have always made effort in landscaping. The last thing we want to do is make the house not pop from the street when we spent a lot of money on the inside, it's really the cherry on top.

We use comps to decide how much to spend on the landscaping and how to style the landscape. If comps have hardscaping like paver patios and decks, then we instal those to give the same feeling. If not then we go with a really clean look of fresh beds, and grass that will really pop out. 

Because we're flippers we can't afford a landscape designer so we go with the style of the home, look at google images based on what kinds of landscaping go with that type of property and then we draw a map of where we want the beds and grasses to go. We make the design but we let our landscapers choose the actual types of plants based on season and cost. 

[James Dainard]

Quote from @Shayan Sameer:

I have a few questions for all the fix/flip investors. I did 2 fix flips last year. One, I made a profit; other one, I kinda even out. I learned a lot from both projects and hope to learn more. I wanted to know what are your thoughts on the 70% rule. Do you guys still apply that rule? For all the deals here in South Florida, I'm not able to do 70%, and it seems like the profit margin is really small. What dollar amount or percentage do you guys usually look for in fix/flip properties?

My 70 % rule...

ARVx70% - rehab cost = purchase price.

 So I've never used the 70% rule to buy a house. I've used it as a reference point, the reason being is that the 70% rule doesn't cover the amount of time it could take.

How we buy properties is what is our cash on cash return? How much cash do we put into the property with our down payment and holding costs, and how much are we getting back in profit? We look for a 35% return in 6 months rather than the 70% rule

[James Dainard]

Quote from @Kara Matson:

I'm a first time homebuyer trying to add multiple touches to my starter home. We have minimal resources as far as money goes, but we have a relatively long list of upgrades (window treatments, hardware, light fixtures, paint, etc). Right now we're just kind of doing upgrades along and along. Any tips or tricks on how to source fixtures and finishings or general construction supplies? Is there something better than just going to home depot?

 All of the finishings that we use can be found at our ProjectRE amazon page https://www.amazon.com/shop/jdainflips?ref_=cm_sw_r_mwn_aips...

[James Dainard]

Quote from @Shaylynn O'Leary:

I am currently looking at my first investment property. The property needs to be rehabbed. Initially we thought we would flip, but now we're thinking of holding and using the equity for future investments. What formula or criteria do you use to decide whether to flip or to hold? I'm interested in hearing different perspectives. Thank you

Yes, I love a BRRRR! When we first look at a BRRRR or Flip we look at if the property can pay for itself completely, and if it can we will hold it as a BRRRR. After 1yr we run a return on equity calculation, how much is our monthly cash flow divided by our equity position. If it's below 7% then we sell the property being taxed as a long-term investment or 1031 it into a larger BRRRR.

[James Dainard]

Quote from @Patricia Redsicker:

My husband and I have other property investments but recently, we established an LLC to start doing fix and flips in Baltimore City/County/surrounding areas. Baltimore City has a massive vacant housing crisis (no surprise there!). However, the City initiated the "Buy Into Baltimore" open bid program (which we're interested in participating) through which you can bid/buy city-owned abandoned/vacant properties for redevelopment/resale.The problem is, there are so many blighted neighborhoods in Baltimore, it's tough to know where to start. Our goal is to help tackle this crisis by rehabilitating one unit/block at a time. Has anyone looked into this issue? How did you start? How did you decide which neighborhood/street/zip code to start with? What was your approach? Appreciate all your feedback.

 If I was going into a city and trying to transform a number of blocks I would start with path of progress and work my way out. The first neighborhood I would look at is anything next to infrastructure - if it has grocery stores, malls, gas stations. Because even in a blighted neighborhood, there's still infrastructure there. So I would start closest to infrastructure and work my way back.

I would also pay attention to crime statistics and try to go for the least amount of crime relative to the area

[Zachary Deal]

Thanks for sharing @James Dainard! I think your last point about starting near infrastructure and moving backwards is very interesting.

How much value do you put on a property being on a main vs side street?

[Andrew Pierce]

I would ask, what are the repairs which deliver outsized returns on home value, which can work for on-market properties?  How do you identify the sleeper deals on-market?

[Abass Aden]

What are the most common mistakes new house flippers make, and how can they avoid them?

[James J Canull]

Could you give me all of your contacts:)?

[Rene Hosman]

Quote from @Abass Aden:

What are the most common mistakes new house flippers make, and how can they avoid them?

 I actually asked this to James myself at BPCON - his answer was "don't fall in love" which made me laugh. But then he explained that you have to remember this is a business transaction and that you have to make compromises sometimes. Don't make emotional decisions because you are "in love" with the property