Live in your first flip, yea or nay?

[Melissa Ewbank]

Interested to hear what some experienced flippers would say about living in your first flip.  Yes?  No? 

I'm looking at a potential REO property as my first flip, however the bank has a requirement that the new owners live in the property for a min. of one year after purchase. There is a ton of upside on the property but wondered if I would be better served trying to do a couple flips in the year to hopefully net the same profit.

[Sam Erickson]

Our first flip was a live in.  It was myself, my wife, and our 1 year old at that time.  I would advise against it if you can afford to flip with out living in it.  That being said sometimes as it was in our case it was our only option if we wanted to flip, financially we had to live in it.

In my experience everything just becomes harder when you live in it.  You have to clean up really good every time you do something.  You would be surprised to the effect living in a construction zone can have on your mood.  My wife also got very tired of doing dishes in the bathtub.

Would advise against it, that being said sometimes you have to do what you have to do.