I suck at Flipping, but I gotta keep going

[Jason Rivera]

I'm in the last week of my 2nd flip.  I stand to make a good profit as I did in my first flip but like my first flip, we spent way too much time on it.  The first took somewhere between 7-9 months while this one is going on 10 months.  Despite that, I will continue doing it because my wife and I recently had a child and we would like to move into a home w/ more rooms around the time that our kid turns 1 year old.  

So this flip was again plagued with bad contractors.  The guy who started the project was 4 months into the project and still wasn't done the framing.  The 2nd guy took over and we knew he was going to be slow.  He was the same guy that I used in the 1st project so I knew his 3 week estimate was going to be far more, and I accepted that, but I didn't think it would be 6 months.  He's good at what he does but is bad at managing his time and money, so I knew I was taking a risk.  

So what's next?  Well, my plan was always to flip 6 properties.  5 would go toward a new home and the 6th flip was meant to jump start my entry into rental properties.  I looked at a few multi-family properties to buy and live in but haven't pulled the trigger.  I recently started considering moving into an apartment with additional bedrooms which would solve our space problem within our timeline and I considered converting my home into a rental.  I'd essentially break even except for months with vacancies but I would have a rental property without needing a down payment.  I can then continue flipping and can take my time if I continue to strike out w/ contractors.  On the plus side, I've flipped 2 properties of different sizes so I understand what my costs will be.  I've met other investors and contractors in the area, so I know how much investors are paying and what contractors are charging.  So the math will be manageable, it's just a matter of finding good contractors.