Beginner’s Guide to Flipping Houses For Profit in Hawaii

[Mark Guagliardo]

Flipping Houses For Profit in Hawaii, Maui and Oahu

OK, let’s get to the basics. If you are just getting into flipping houses for profit, there’s much to learn, no doubt. You can’t learn how to do it a single weekend course, you can’t learn how to do it by reading one article on a blog and you can’t do it by watching one episode of House Flipping reality TV. 

Contrary to what the gurus would have you believe, and try to convince you to send them thousands for their program, house flipping is not easy and simple. But there is a way to do it and the best way to learn how to flip houses is by doing it on your own, making a few mistakes along the way, while having safeguards in place to make sure that you minimize your downside risk.Is it as easy as people say? No way. 

But there are ways you can shorten your learning curve, avoid the major pitfalls, and still come out with a nice profit. And of course, the more you do it,just like anything in life, the better you get at it. Experience, after all, is the greatest teacher.

Different Definitions of House Flipping
Before I get into the “how to’s”, let’s clarify the definition of house flipping first. When people refer to “flipping houses”, many are referring to the process of buying deeply distressed properties at auction, foreclosure or bank short sales at a deep discount, then quickly “flipping” (selling) that property to a homeowner without much in the way of renovations. Although this kind of house flipping is popular and potentially lucrative, this not the kind of house flipping we are referring to here.

That kind of “flipping” relies on quick sales and even quicker profits. Unfortunately at the same time, this kind of “flipping” has given the real estate investing industry a bit of a black eye in the process. Not only is that kind of flipping oftentimes irresponsible (reason #1 not to do it), but there is also less profit in it than traditional buy, renovate and flip style of house flipping.When you buy a distressed property, make no real improvements, then quickly try to “flip it” to a buyer, you really don’t add a whole lot of value to the end-user. 

But when you buy a distressed property, beautifully renovate and then sell it, you are adding real value. And with that real value, comes even greater profit potential. That is the kind of house flipping that not only provides excellent living spaces for families and individuals, but also helps to continue to strengthen the emerging housing recovery. 

Additionally, house flipping is also oftentimes referred to and sometimes confused with wholesaling. Wholesaling real estate is often called “flipping” because a wholesaler “flips” a contract to a real estate investor who then does whatever they want to do with the property. Not a thing to do in Hawaii as it rarely if ever works due to the Laws here, and a good way to develop a bad reputation in the market.

Neither of these kinds of house flipping are what my definition entails, but we’ll get into that in just a moment.

Flipping Houses For Profit: Not As Simple As They Say
Learning any kind of real estate investing, whether it’s flipping houses or buying homes to buy and hold, is not that simple. 

It’s capital-intensive and is a lot of hard work. In traditional renovation-style house flipping, you need cash to buy the house, cash to make the improvements and then hopefully to get it all back (and then some) to make it all worthwhile and profitable to you.All these factors make house flipping a risky investment and not for everyone. It’s fast paced, fraught with many potential risks, but when you do it “right”, the profit margins are worth it.

Whether you are just starting out flipping houses or are thinking about getting into it, whether on a part-time or a full-time basis, there are some beginner’s steps that will help to shorten your learning curve and get you flipping houses profitably in a short period of time.

House Flipping Steps for Beginners

Step #1: Assess Your Cash Situation
When first learning all about flipping houses for profit; you need to take stock of your own financial resources. You need to know how much money you have to invest on your own, or whether you’ll need to find investors. Finding investors is an art unto itself, but knowing how much cash you have to invest before you begin is the logical first step. If you have money to invest in real estate, this is certainly a bonus.

However if you don’t, there are a myriad of ways to flip houses with no money of your own using banks, private money lenders and other means.

One great way to get started flipping houses if you don’t have the money to do it all on your own is to find a joint venture partner or partners who have money to invest.

Splitting your first house flip profits with other partners is a great way to start, while building some momentum and getting your first house flip under your belt. Sure, you’ll have to split profits, but it’s far better to get 50% of something than 100% of nothing.

Step #2: Start Building Your House Flipping Team
As soon as you finalize your cash situation, the next step is to start building your house flipping team. This team will help you to find, fix and sell the property – and the collective wisdom and expertise will surely help you reach your house flip goals that much faster. No matter your level of experience, you simply will not be able to do everything on your own, so enlisting your own mastermind group will not only help you be more productive, but will help you work through the inevitable problems and challenges that you’ll face.

Your team at the very least should be composed of a real estate broker, contractors, architects, insurance specialists, accountants and money lenders. All these professionals can help you shorten your learning curve and get you making money flipping houses faster than you would have been able to do on your own.

Step #3: Find A Good House to Flip
Finding a suitable property to flip is certainly a challenge. This is especially true if you have decided to look in a specific area you’ve both fully researched and is situated in an area which interests you. Ideally, you should be able to buy the house for a low price, eyeball it to be able to rehab it quickly and relatively cheaply, so you can sell it at a higher price…and obviously make a profit. Knowing all these aspects in order to make the profit, you’ll need to rely heavily on your house flip team from Step #2 above.

A good real estate agent can assist you in finding houses to flip, a great one will rebate you 50% of his commission. You may want to focus on properties that may not need expensive repairs or you can focus on properties that need more extensive repairs, but the repairs will substantially increase the equity. Both real estate agents and real estate wholesalers can help you in finding both kinds of properties.

Step #4: Do the House Flipping Math
When doing your initial house flipping analysis, you can do a little "napkin math" to estimate if the house is a potential. The first thing you need to do is determine the potential selling price of the house when it's all fixed up – this is what's known as After Repair Value (or ARV). Then simply subtract the purchase price, repairs and all your monthly carrying costs. What you have left over is your profit. If all this initial math point to profitability, then you may have an excellent house flip on your hands and you should consider purchasing it.

Step #5: Manage the Rehabilitation Tightly
Once you purchase the house, don’t just solely rely on your contractor to handle and supervise all the repairs. Make sure you manage this process tightly if you are doing the management on your own, but better yet, hire a professional contractor to oversee all the rehabilitation, especially if the rehab is extensive. Make sure you personally supervise the repairs to ensure that they are being carried out properly and on budget. In the end, your profit largely depends on what you pay for the house initially, but making sure that the repair costs stay within your budget is equally if not more important. 

Likewise, overextending yourself by doing more than your budget allows on the rehab or taking your eye off the ball and allowing your contractor to run free are two of the quickest ways to ensure that your make profits will go up in smoke.

Step #6: Work Fast, Make Profit
Time is of the essence when flipping houses for profit. It’s a race against the clock because the longer the rehab takes or the longer the house sits on the market once it’s done, the less profit you make. Soft costs such as financing payments, insurance payments, town taxes, utilities and any and all other carrying costs, all which have to be paid at regular intervals, add up to diminish your profits, the longer you own the house.

It’s simple, the shorter the time you hold onto your investors’ money, the better your profits will be. So make your improvements fast. Do the job well, but do it fast. Make sure your contractors do the job on budget and on time and hire good real estate agents who help you price the final product so it sells quickly. In all of our house flips, we estimate six months from purchase to sale, but factor in a few additional months of expenses to make sure we profit on each and every flip we do.

Summary
Contrary to what many think, rapidly appreciating markets are not a necessary ingredient for house flipping success. As long as you stick to a disciplined set of rules, as big if not bigger profits can be made in slower markets as well.

House flipping, because it is such a short-term style of real estate investing, is largely immune to extreme market fluctuations. And as a result, successful house flipping can be done under any kind of prevailing market conditions. When you think about it, house flipping is one of the least risky types of real estate investing there is.

When you buy right, do a good job on the rehab, stick to your budget and put an end product on the market that shows beautifully and is priced right, you will make a profit flipping houses.

The best deals go fast…. When a target of acquisition appears, move fast before it’s gone

To take advantage of hot deals you have to act fast

1) Have a relationship with a real estate broker, so they understand your ARV.

2) Have a Purchase Contract ready to go with all information and attachments ready to plug in address.

3) Have current "Proof of Funds".

This allows you to submit an offer as soon as it comes available, either on MLS or discovered.

Remember the 70% rule states that an investor should pay 70 percent of the ARV of a property minus the repairs needed.

The ARV is the After Repaired Value and is what a home is worth after it is fully repaired.

Flip from the Profit and Loss Statement, not feelings or hunches....