Seeking Input from Fix/Flip Professionals for New Flipper

[Christopher Albritton]

Hey BP,

My Dad always says, "What you don't know, and what you can't see can hurt you"

I need some clarification/guidance on what this process is supposed to look like.

Please critique the hell out of this:

• Find RE Agent
• Look for properties
• Walk through a potential deal, and estimate costs
• Make an offer
• Accepted - Due Diligence begins
• Confirm Clean Title, Wait for HML to underwrite deal, and get Home Inspection
• Everything turns out great, we close, start/complete work, sell, make money.

Assuming this is right, I have an agent who's been finding properties for me. However, I'm stumped at the estimate costs/offer part, and to a lesser extent financing as well.

On the one hand I kinda need to know how much I'm going to spend on repairing/renovating the property, but on the other the likelihood of a contractor looking at properties with me for free won't happen unless I have a property under contract. On top of that, with how hot RE is at the moment, if I include any kind of contingencies (Home Inspection/Financing) my offer probably won't get accepted.

As for financing, I have spoken to an HML, and a Broker - 18 lenders total. They all require an underwriting period to determine if they'll even lend on the deal, and do so based on the Asset unlike traditional financing.

So BP,  how am I supposed to accurately determine (or at least ballpark) repair estimates, so I can make a sensible offer and respect my General Contractor's time? 

For financing, am I on the right track with who I've talked to already, or do I need be someone who throws leverage to the wind and simply keep a fat wad of cash for PP+Rehab costs in my bank account until it's time to use and simply skip financing all together? Do investors really pay all cash for these properties, or are they simply referring to HML's when they say that?

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to your input.