Flipping in Los Angeles?

[Jon S.]

Hey everyone, was wondering how much success people have had lately flipping houses in the Los Angeles area (including Orange County, Inland Empire, the Valley)?   With home prices on the rise I was curious if there are still deals to be found in order to turn nice profits.  If so are they in foreclosures, REOs, or seller direct?  Any areas in particular?  

[Will Barnard]

There are no deals left in Los Angeles, everybody needs to look elsewhere if they want to make money in RE.

Did anybody fall for that? . . . . . . 

In all seriousness, deals here in So Cal are much thinner than before and much more difficult to find. Those who do direct marketing and find motivated seller leads will find the deals with the best spreads. Repositioning properties and development are hot and have heftier spreads but you need to know what you are doing to enter that arena.

I believe the key is to lock in your numbers so there are very little variances, hold a RE license to get paid on both ends, and do quantity, though the profits may only be $20k-$40k, each. If you do quantity, you can do ok.

The higher end market will deliver bigger spreads but the timeframes for renovations and selling increases so you have to be careful there too. I have done well on some and not so well on others and that is with lots of experience. With little to none, better to stick with the standard homes and work hard to find as many of the small profit deals as you can.