Investment Property: Strategies for Flipping a Property

Fix and Flip:  This is the most common strategy employed, and generally what comes to mind when people think about flipping a property.  You buy a property that needs repair, you take care of all the repairs, and you sell it as retail for a profit.  It is a reliable method that can generate thousands of dollars on a single deal.  Flippers run into trouble when they pay too much for the property or underestimate the cost of repairs.  Be sure to account for all of these factors before making a deal, and be smart (conservative) during repairs, or you will spend all of your profit. 

Refinance and Lease-Option:  This one starts out the same as the first strategy, except instead of reselling the property for cash, consider reappraising the home at its new value, and restructuring the financing associated with it.  That way, you can sell the home with a lease-option, whereby the tenant’s rent will cover your mortgage (or should, at least), and if the tenant decides to buy, then you won’t have to hire a realtor or go through the process of marketing and selling the home again. 

Wholesale: Rather than selling the home as retail, consider passing it along to another flipper trying to employ the first strategy (fix and flip).  That is, wait to buy until you’ve found a good enough deal in a good enough market, where you can turn around and flip the property to another investor without actually making any of the repairs.  You will sell the home “as is”, below market value (just what the other flipper is looking for).  You may only make a small profit as compared to the rehabber, but you won’t do any work and could walk away with a few thousand dollars. 

The final strategy is a bit riskier, only because it involves predicting the local economy.  If you find a real hot, booming real estate market, and are able to get the timing just right, you can enter a contract for a house or condo that’s under construction (or better yet, under planning).  If the situation is right, you can wait until the development is complete, and then resell the home or condo at its retail market value for an enormous profit.  Be advised, if the local economy turns sour, you will be stuck owning pre-construction property that is sure to deflate in value. 

Tell us what you think.