How long do your single family flips generally take?

Question

I'm just getting into all this and wondering how long do you normally spend on each property? Do you do this full-time?

Bryan Noth · Answer

@Kat Hussey flips will vary based on scope of work and familiarity with rehab process, either yours personally or your GCs'.  Smaller rehabs, typically not requiring permit work should be 30-60 days.  Larger scale, often requiring permits are 90-120.  It can easily take 180+ if it's a large project, if it's an older property and when you hit snags (never an 'if you hit snags').  A good amount depends on your labor as well, both in reliability and technical proficiency.

Anthony Dadlani · Answer

We like to see most of our projects take between 90 and 120 days.

Best of luck in all your endeavors.

Greg Dickerson · Answer

It all depends on the market, the property, scope of work and your contractor. Some can get done in 30 days from acquisition to close, others 90 days or more. I have done multi million dollar flips that took over a year.

Jay Cooper · Answer

@Kat Hussey

Greetings Kat. I’m gearing up to do my first fix and flip within the next two months.

Although there are an infinite amount of variables, I would be in a comfort zone if the project had a max duration of 4-6 months depending on what all needs to be done. I anticipate ordering any long lead items as soon as I’m done with the demo.

Once I create my as-built drawings, I typically like to build a project on paper and build a schedule before attacking the major scopes.

I’m curious to hear what the pros have to contribute.

Account Closed · Answer

My rule of thumb is that I want to walk away with $10,000 for every month of the flip. If it's a 6 month flip (National Association of  Realtors says that's average) then I want to have $60,000 or more in profits after all expenses or I won't bother.

Dutch Langley · Answer

Most of ours are full permitted rehabs...on average around 2500 sq foot homes.  In general, new hvac, new kitchens, baths, flooring, windows, painting inside and out...the works.  Takes us about 3 months on average to complete.

Christopher Campbell · Answer

I worked with a lady that had been flipping homes for a while that got into a groove with her teams and material suppliers that told me her way of going about it. Not saying this will apply right away since you're new and everyone is going to have a different way of going about it but I found it interesting and wanted to share.

We were looking at a house that she wanted to flip and I asked her, "The property needs a good amount of work. How long do you think it'll take to fix up and put on the market to sell?"

She replied, "The way I estimate my project time is by allocating $10k per week. For every $10k I spend on the rehab, barring any acts of God I should have that portion of the work done within a week. If I have my materials on site and on time my guys know it needs to get done." ($30k rehab budget = 3 weeks project time)

Again, I'm not saying this is going to fit everyone. She's very experienced and has all her ducks in a row. There are a ton of variables that come into play during a rehab, a lot of moving parts to keep track of, and a detailed schedule to stick to is a must. This was her method of estimating time and with as many projects as she's taken on, I didn't feel like arguing/questioning her logic.

In this business, the quicker the project the better since time is money. That doesn't mean projects should be rushed by any means. Quality work will go a long way.

To give an example, an investor I know just bought a house that needed a layout restructure (basically redoing the layout of the house to make it more functional and attractive), installing central HVAC, building out a washer/dryer room, plumbing (new bathroom and kitchen location | rough in + top out), full electrical rewire (after full demo to studs), new sheetrock, paint, flooring, kitchen/bath finish out, and exterior restoration. Him and his GC estimate they are going to get the project done in about 4-5 weeks.

I hope this helps and any other feedback is appreciated!

Cheers!

Kat Hussey · Answer

@Jay Cooper We're going to do a couple deals in Dallas first before we try our hands at distance flipping, but I went to school out there and it's gorgeous. Especially out near Wimberley!

Stone Saathoff · Answer

For the San Antonio market and I would imagine a few other in TX, it can vary, but to give you some idea

A cosmetic only flip, or a foundation and cosmetic only flip should be sub 1 month with ease.

A full gut rehab with regular permits should be do-able in 12 weeks.

A historic district rehab can stretch out to 9 months-1 year pretty easily due to the lengthy permit process.

For something in the middle, probably the 1-2 month range.

Each major item doesn't actually take that long but coordinating and pulling permits tend to make it take longer.

Mike B. · Answer

As everyone said above, there are a lot of variables. Generally speaking, I'm trying to keep my rehabs cosmetic these days ($30k in 30 days). I've done several gut rehab projects and they typically go 9-12mo. There's only about 6 mo worth of work but the permitting process in Chicago stretches out the timeline.

How long do your single family flips generally take?

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