A Beginner's Guide to Flipping Houses

If you're dreaming of making money in real estate, it's time to stop dreaming and get to work, because making money in real estate isn't just a vague pipedream. It can be done, even by a young and inexperienced person, when you learn how to "flip" houses.

A friend of mine, we'll call her Tai, made a fortune in real estate, beginning at the age of twenty, with no help from anyone else. Here's how she did it:

Tai began by buying a HUD repo, which allowed her to get into the house for no money down. Then she fixed it up and sold it herself. At closing, she had made enough profit to by a second fixer-upper, but this time, she paid all cash. Tai went right to work fixing her second house, and when she sold that one, she collected profit of $44,000, which allowed her to pay cash for her third house!

By now, Tai was comfortable with her formula, and within a short time, she had flipped her third house, realizing enough profit to pay cash for yet another house, as well as being able to buy the custom pickup of her dreams. And all of this had happened in the span of just nine months!

Tai's formula was simple. She located houses that needed only cosmetic work, avoiding those that required structural repairs. She did all the painting herself, inside and out, and updated the home's lighting, plumbing fixtures, and carpeting. Once renovations had been completed, all three houses sold quickly, and at a significant profit.

Flipping houses is the most tried-and-true way to make a fortune in real estate, so don't listen to anyone who tries to tell you that it can't be done or that you need to have a great deal of start-up money. That's not true. You can buy houses with no money down through various loan programs, and sellers will often help you with the closing costs.

I know what I'm talking about. My husband and I bought our 27th house earlier this year, for no money down, and we expect to make a profit of at least $100,000 for just one month of hard work!

But we take the process a step further, making our houses outshine the competition by also using Design Psychology, although our buyers never know that. All they know is that they feel good when they're in our homes, which makes them want to buy them, even if they're more expensive than the house next door.

There's no other business that can make you as much money, with as little start-up cost, in as short a time, as investing in real estate. In fact, more millionaires made their fortunes in real estate than in any other business. And you can do it, too. You just have to stop dreaming and get started.

Listed below are more articles related to the above article from the "Real Estate Investing" article category.

People interested in the above article "A Beginner's Guide to Flipping Houses" are also interested in the related articles listed below:

Why It's Smart for Real Estate Investors to Record Sales and Rental Trends

Sales trends and rental trends are proven indicators of rising or falling investment property prices. It would be a good idea, therefore, to create a system for tracking and recording trend data such as the number of listings, new housing starts, selling prices, time on market, rent levels, and vacancy rates when you begin real estate investing.

Short Sales, Bank Owned Properties and Standard Listings

Everyone says it is a Buyers Market and to Buy Now. Is that really so true if almost half or the majority of real estate sales are foreclosures, REOs and short sales. It seems to be more of a Bankers market. The majority of the time the lender approves a sales price below the current market value just to sell it quick. One needs to remember that prices in the first-time buyer range have lots of competition.

Real Estate Investing Advice: Monitor Sales and Rental Trends

Sales trends and rental trends are proven indicators of rising or falling investment property prices. It would be a good idea, therefore, to create a system for tracking and recording trend data such as the number of listings, new housing starts, selling prices, time on market, rent levels, and vacancy rates when you begin real estate investing.

Your Best Bet for Making Money in a Bad Market

Investors are creatures of habit and most are accustomed to making money from their investments – and the more money they make, the happier they are. Fortunately, investors have plenty of choices when it comes to making money, so when one market heads south, they simply shift their investing strategy to an investment that will make them the most money and life goes on.

Take Advantage of the Credit Crunch - 8 Tricks to Negotiating The Best Home Buying Deal

This advice is aimed mainly at property buyers but it can also be helpful for sellers to be aware these negotiating techniques. Buying or selling a home is likely to be the largest financial transaction you will undertake so it's worthwhile giving some thought to how to get the best price. Even if it only makes a slight difference in the price, given the cost of the average home that can be quite a sum of money.

Purchasing An Old Property To Fix It Can Turn Out Expensive

Many people who want to invest in real estate are thinking of purchasing old properties, fix them, modernize them and selling them later at a higher price. Though this is a great idea and professional realtors make thousands of dollars this way, if you do not have the necessary expertise, such transactions can turn out to be really expensive and you may end up losing money instead of making any profit.

Flipping Investment Real Estate - All About It

Buying real estate and selling it again fast, and ideally for a profit, is called "flipping". This type of real estate investing is completely legal and ethical. To be a successful real estate flipper, you will need to find property leads preferably motivated sellrs.