All Forum Posts by: Dutch Langley

Depends on your abilities and goals.  Do you love where you live?  You are correct...it would be tough to buy anything that isn't already fixed up in the downtown area of Charlotte.  If you want to have your real estate make money for you...totally different choice...then sell, buy something further out that is cheaper for you and use the balance to buy and flip another one or buy a few rentals.

Once my flips hit the market...they sell very quickly.  Make sure to write a great description -- include everything that has been done to the property.  Pretty up the property with nice touches that will appeal - landscaping, lighting, etc..  Staging gives it wow factor.  And please get a good photographer.  It's cheap and well worth it.

It's possible that it would require helical piers to beef up and support the foundation.  I generally pay around $350 - $450 per pier.  If they have to run them along the entire foundation wall, that can get pricey.

Every flip I have done has required taking down a load bearing wall or other structural modifications.  Even though we are a GC, I hire a structural engineer every single time and that letter gets uploaded into the permit system for the city/county inspectors.  Then when I sell the house I have documentation that it was done correctly.  Best $350 - $450 I ever spend on a flip.  I sleep better as well.

My husband and I owned and ran a large inspection company for years.  When we started flipping we stopped taking clients for inspections and renovations. (I am so much happier now that we are not for hire anymore).  His experience as a home inspector and building forensics expert helps us greatly with investigating in short order what is wrong with a house before we buy it to flip.  In regards to conflict of interest, it is always best to of course not make an offer on a house that you are being paid to inspect by a client or the owner of the property.  If it even smells like it could be a conflict of interest, you should disclose, preferably in writing, in my opinion.  People are lawsuit crazy, so always cover yourself.

We don't do the volume you do per year, but I have gone through the same thought process. The market here is very good but it is tough to get properties that ARV for $250k because everyone wants that price range -- feeding frenzy. It takes really only an incremental amount of additional time/expense in our experience to flip a house that ARVs for $350k/$450K and there is less competition at that level. I can get a bigger spread generally on those as well. I look to get 10-15% of the final sales price as my profit. So for us we focus on those and it allows us to make the same amount of profit on 2 houses as we would have if we did 4 or 5 of the lower priced ones. Plus our time involved is much less which fits with our quality of life goals - work less/make more.

Hook up with your local Real Investment Groups...both in person (my favorite) and online.  There you will have the opportunity to meet other investors, lenders, suppliers, etc..  Plus you will need all of those relationships to be successful.  Success leaves clues...so if you find a few other flippers that are successful find out from them what they did to be successful.  Also find out from them what they did wrong and what their most valuable lessons have been.

I've been living in or around Charlotte since 1979.  Great area!  The business economy is diverse and strong.  There will be crime in any city of a decent size, but compared to what I see in other cities I've been pleased.  Love this area of our country.

Learn as much as you can about construction/renovation.  Get really good proven referrals from real estate investors and realtors...then call their clients and find out what was done, timeframe, cost, what the contractor was good at/not good at, etc.  Make sure you get the right permits pulled for required permit work and the correct licensed contractors, otherwise it will bite you in the butt when a buyer asks and you haven't done that.  Even experienced GCs get surprised at something and have unforeseen challenges that crop up.

Learn as much as you can about the market you are flipping in so you know what you need to do to that house in order to get top dollar.  Know the comps there.