22 yo married, is house flipping for me?

[Account Closed]

Hey guys,

I am very interested in flipping houses. I have always had an interest because since the time I was a kid I was flipping electronics locally to ebay for a profit and I love turning money into more money.

Here's the rub: I have worked very hard to stay out of debt and avoided all student loans. I love being debt-free so that is why I have hesitations about jumping into real estate. I graduated college one year ago and now all that money that was keeping me out of debt is turning into savings. I live well below my means. I have a 6 month living expenses emergency fund I built up this year I am not touching and an IRA with peanuts in it (few thousand) but beyond that I am on track to have an additional 20k by year end IF my wife doesn't get her full time (which she has an interview for this Monday) and if she does we will have around 40k saved by year end with the ability to save even more the following year.

Now since I don't like debt should I just amass this cash and store it in index funds for the next 2-3 years to beat inflation, then purchase a home with all cash to flip? Or is there some other option I am not seeing that we should be doing once we amass the first 15-20k?

Some helpful info: I am not willing to risk the 6 month emergency fund and haven't counted that as savings. I have a credit score of 760, my wife has like 690, I work all my own hours and have an incredibly flexible job that would allow me to put in "sweat equity" but I know nothing about handiwork- my wife is an interior designer. I don't want to over leverage debt like many RE people do

I am considering a live-in flip option but I care deeply about my wife's quality of life and don't want her to have to deal with too much construction going on in her home kind of a thing. Right now our rent is 1/2 the average for our city so a mortgage would cost extra $$ each month but might be worthwhile if we are looking to renovate it to flip for profit. I am pretty afraid of legal issues and stress around being a landlord so I don't like renting so I figure flipping might be a good option for us.
I am looking for the kind of investment where there is enough safety in the net profit margin that even if there are more repairs than expected, we would still make a profit. 

My mom was a real estate agent and my dad made $300k+/yr at his job and became incredibly successful in the stock market throughout his lifetime as well. They did not pay for my college or anything though because they wanted me to work hard and learn good principles- it worked. I would use them as mental resources but unfortunately in their old age they are beginning to become quite forgetful etc. However, their success has shown me how possible it is to be successful at both the stock market and real estate but growing up I only took the time to learn the ins/outs of the stock market not real estate so now I am looking for some good informational direction in that area.
This year I lost a lot of my assets in a flood, paid ER medical bills through the roof, and paid my wife's college expenses- we still managed to save money during all that so I am pretty confident we are going to continue saving. But I am trying to make sure I don't let all those hardships scare me away from potential opportunities in REI. I have been getting 19% from the stock market over the last 4 years but it has been a bullish market and I love the idea of diversifying into REI.

[Doug Woodville]

19% over the last 4 years? Damn. Stay there and keep investing. Flipping will not result in less stress or legal issues than being a landlord. 

Having said that, have you considered becoming a lender to other flippers?