How Long Does It Take To Flip A House?

On average, most fix and flip investors take 4-6 months to flip a house. This industry-standard timing includes everything: from purchasing the investment property to handing the keys over to the buyer. Lots of different factors can impact the timeline of a fix-and-flip project, and unless you have a totally seamless project there can often be unexpected delays.

In this article, we’ll look at the key factors that can influence how long it takes to flip a house.

Why are timelines important for house flipping?

One of the hidden costs of flipping a house is the holding cost – aka the bills you need to pay during the time you own the property. This includes insurance, utilities, tax, and loan repayments. These costs can add up, which is why most property investors are keen to renovate quickly and sell as fast as possible.

By having an accurate timeline for your house flip, you can budget for these holding costs. Every day that the property sits unsold, the more these costs eat into your profit margins.

The typical house flip timeline

On average, a house flip takes around 4 to 6 months. However, this can vary based on individual circumstances and market conditions. A minor cosmetic rehab is likely to take less time, while flips that require extensive renovations can easily stretch to 9 months or longer.

Market conditions can also slow things down, or speed things up. In a hot market, your renovated property might sell super quickly – but if it’s a slow market, you might be left holding your property for longer than originally planned.

Managing every phase of the flip can help you keep on top of potential delays and reduce your holding costs.

Key phases of a house flip and time estimates

Whether you’re an experienced property developer or an amateur investor, a good way to develop your house flipping timeline is to break it down into project phases and work out the average timing. Here’s our breakdown:

Phase 1: Property Acquisition

This is one of the longer phases of the project. It takes 1-3 months on average to find a suitable property and another 30-60 days to get through the process of making offers, negotiating, and closing.

Making a cash purchase can speed up the acquisition, but waiting for approval for a mortgage could slow it down considerably. If you don’t have the capital to buy in cash, using private money lenders like Express Capital Financing is a good compromise. Our fix and flip loans have quick closing, so you could have the money in as little as five days.

Finding off-market deals, such as direct sales from motivated sellers, can also speed things up. This avoids the competition found on public listings. Without a bidding war taking place, they can go to closing faster.

Phase 2: Renovation and repairs

This is where the timeline becomes quite stretchy. Minor to moderate renovations can take 4-8 weeks to complete, but if you’ve purchased a distressed property it could take far longer.

Some repairs add more value than others. Our blog post ‘how to increase the value of your fix and flip property‘ has more tips on areas to focus on.

As well as getting quotes for renovation quotes, it’s a good idea to ask contractors for a realistic time estimate for the renovation process. The experts should be able to give you a firm timeline based on your plans and the state of the property.

Speaking of contractors, their availability and scheduling could also push your timeline out. Permits and inspections can also cause delays during this phase. Project management is key to staying on schedule. Create a detailed renovation plan outlining all tasks, materials, and deadlines. Build in some contingency time to account for the unexpected.

Hiring reliable, experienced contractors can also go a long way toward keeping things on track. Check their references and past work. It’s best to work with people who have experience in house-flipping.

You should also plan ahead by arranging permits and ordering materials in advance, too. This will reduce frustrating delays once the renovation work begins.

Phase 3: Getting ready to sell

Once the renovations are complete, you need to stage and prepare the property for listing. Depending on your experience this could take around 1-2 weeks.

During this phase, you’ll be doing minor cosmetic touch-ups and deep-cleaning the property to make sure you get the best purchase price. It’s a good idea to hire a professional photographer at this point, too. Again, this can push out the timeline depending on their availability.

Phase 4: Listing and selling the property

The property market has a huge impact on this phase of the project. Most properties typically sit on the market for 30-90 days, but it could be more or less depending on demand.

While you can’t do much about market conditions, there are other factors that affect time on market: such as pricing and marketing. Overpricing your property could result in it sitting on the market for longer. This is why it’s important not to over-renovate. You don’t want to make the property worth more than people are willing to pay.

The staging and photography that you spent time on during phase 3 can pay off at this point. The more attractive the home looks, the more likely buyer are to be interested. Partnering with a real estate agent who has good market reach, and lists your home on different platforms, can increase its visibility and the likelihood of a good offer.

Once an offer is accepted, you just have the closing process to think about. This usually takes 30 to 45 days. It can take longer if the buyer wants to negotiate, or if they have their own financing issues.

Tips to speed up your house-flipping project

Some things take time, and that can’t be helped. But there are ways to make your house-flipping project run a lot more smoothly.

• Be an efficient project manager. Having a clear plan and schedule can help to keep your team accountable. Clear communication can help to keep your contractors on track, and overlapping tasks rather than only working on one thing at a time can help.
• Find the right team. Working with reliable contractors and real estate agents makes a huge difference. Building a network of professionals who understand and respect your timeline is important.
• Stay flexible. Prepare for unexpected delays and have backup plans in place in case things go wrong, or suppliers let you down. Prioritize the most critical tasks to avoid bottlenecks that hold the rest of the renovation up.
• Use the right type of financing. Cash is fast, but it’s not always practical. Think about the benefits of partnering with a hard money lender rather than waiting for mortgage approval.

In house flipping, patience is key

While it takes an average of 4-6 months, there are lots of factors that can influence the timeline of your fix and flip project. Executing a successful flip within a reasonable timeframe involves a lot of project management. You can also speed things up by ensuring you’re working with the right people, and have financing on hand when you need it most.

With house flipping, it pays to be patient. While there are some things you can do to stop delays, some things just take time. Avoid rushing the process as this is where mistakes are likely to happen – causing more delays and potentially impacting your bottom line. The best you can do is plan well, have a great team of people on your side, and prepare for the unexpected.

Fast-Tracking Your House Flip with the Right Lending Partner

As we’ve explored the different phases and tips to optimize your house-flipping timeline, it’s clear that having reliable financing can streamline the entire process significantly. At Express Capital Financing, we help expedite your flip with tailored Fix and Flip loans. By covering up to 90% of purchase costs and 100% of renovation expenses, with the ability to close quickly, we ensure you don’t just meet your timelines—you beat them. We aim to partner with you, streamlining your financial process so you can focus on the quick turnaround of your investments. Together, we can transform potential into profit, efficiently and reliably.