The Real Simple Secret to Finding Flips

Rehab and or flipping, whatever you want to call it sounds awesome.  You see it on T.V. with people making quick easy money.  The thing they don’t show on those programs is that the money is actually made when the property is bought.  I mean you have to buy the property right or your project is doomed before it starts.  It is very difficult and time consuming to find homes that are really good candidates for a flip.  Many people look at dozens of homes and may even make dozens of written offers before they actually secure a “Good Deal.”  A good portion of the work in a flip is in finding the home in the first place.  Many a wood-be investor has given up the dream after chasing dead end after dead end.

There is no shortage of advice on how to find flips: bandit signs, mailers, county records, etc.  Those strategies do work and are critical to many investors.  But I believe this industry is full of flashy B.S. artists that think they can razzle dazzle people into giving their home away.  No, the way to find deals, and even better, to have deals find you is to be a deal maker.  You have to be a closer not a poser.   

If you want the deals to come to you, you must make promises you can keep and keep the promises you make.  If you let deals slip through your fingers you will quickly build a reputation as someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing.  People want professionals when they’re contemplating selling their home.  If you establish a good reputation people will come to you.  They’ll even sell you their home for cheaper than they would sell to the next guy because it may be critical to them that the home sells as agreed.  They know the costs and frustrations that come with having to break off a deal and start all over.

In order to be a deal maker you must take control of your destiny.  There is nothing wrong with wholesalers (someone who finds the deals and then assigns the deal, for a fee, to the actual rehabber.)  But, I think the best wholesalers actually have the ability to close on the home themselves if they cannot find an end buyer.  I also think that you must be willing and able to put some of your own money into a deal.  I don’t know how many investors I’ve heard brag that they don’t put their own money in the deal.   I don’t understand that, if you’re so good why don’t you have money to put up and why aren’t you willing to risk your money?  If you relying completely on someone else to either buy the home or loan you 100% of the money to buy the home then you have 0% control in the promises you are making to a seller.  You are counting on someone else to keep your promises.  That is never a good situation.

If you don’t have the money to put into a deal now, make it a goal to get that money as soon as possible.  I don’t always have $50-100,000 to put into a given deal but I’m not afraid to take on partners in order to make a deal happen.  And, I’m not afraid to pay those partners very well.  I’m also not against borrowing 100% of the funds if the deal permits.  There are no absolutes in this business.   Be creative, think outside the box but make sure you close the deal.

Make the deals and the deals will come.  If you are a deal maker you’ll have the best agents and wholesalers beating down your door in no time.  You don’t really have to be all that good to be a stand out in this or any other industry.  You just have to commit to keep your promises; a good strategy in any business or life itself.