Seasonal flipping and the challenges

[Kyle Swarts]

Hi guys, so I'm completely green as they would say. I've read a couple books, perused the forums, and have listened to about the first 80 episodes of the BP podcast in the last two to three weeks.

My long term goal is buy and hold rentals. To gain a little capital I am interested in the Rehab and flip aspect of REI. Since I have no experience I'm trying really hard to get knowledgeable in the market, ARV, and writing up a good presentation to private investors or hard money lenders. Also working on finding a good agent/GC so when I hit the ground it's running. I know there will always be unforeseen issues when dealing with real estate, especially on your first few deals. I just want to minimize the risk as much as possible and I think a lot of that is in the due diligence.

I was on the forums two days ago and seen something I hadn't takin into account. Weather. I'm from the midwest and we can have some pretty bad winters and just all around unpredictable weather patterns. This makes me a little uneasy about being brand new to the game and attempting to get started around the time the seasons will be changing.

Should I just talk to real estate agents and contractors to see how the market fluctuates and potential problems with rehabs go?

[Will Fraser]

Hey @Kyle Swarts!  Welcome to the wild world of real estate investing.  

Weather is something that I hadn't considered before beginning my investing journey and since then I've given it a bit of thought.  As an investor Oklahoma City and a native of Arkansas everywhere I'm most prone to invest has hot hot heat during the summer and TBD during the winter.  Each of these seasons has drawbacks and the winter seems to have the greatest ability to push back projects.

Here's the catch though . . . MOST places in the US have weather that can delay projects substantially, and often that tends to happen in a certain season (like hurricane season, monsoon, draught, etc).  These places may be more or less prone to season slowdowns, but surely not free from them.

One of the best things we've learned to process through in rehab is this:  which items are going to be hard or slow during the winter (example:  exterior paint, pouring concrete, and many other things outside) and which won't be impacted (interior paint, kitchen rehabs, bathroom rehabs, etc.)  Then there will be another set of tasks that we'll need to work to make simpler during the winter.  

Once we factor this in we can decide which projects will be advantageous heading into the winter months, versus which will lead to frustrating delays and longer holding times.

So, while weather is a factor and certain areas are less prone to the "winter slowdown", flipping in your neck of the woods is still a great way to start!

Will