A great starting point is *Flipping Houses Exposed* by Danny Johnson. If your strategy involves finding distressed properties through direct mail campaigns or FSBO (For Sale by Owner) listings, an agent may not be necessary for acquiring the deal. Use a mortgage calculator to compare interest rates and loan terms from different lenders.
Numbers drive every decision, from purchasing price to renovation budgets and resale value. Properties with an ADU are in high demand because homebuyers can use the extra unit to house family members, accommodate guests, or even rent it out for passive income.
The website guides you step by step through the investment request process. Look to Danny Johnson in San Antonio, Texas for local real estate information. With the right education and strategy, even beginners can build a successful flipping business.
Having financing in place allows you to act quickly when a great deal appears, increasing your chances of securing a profitable flip. To solidify your understanding, try explaining key concepts to a friend or family member.
San Antonio, TX real estate trends
Once your offer is submitted, the seller may accept, reject, or counter your proposal.
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Additionally, some professionals with seasonal employment-such as union workers who receive unemployment benefits during slow months-use house flipping to generate income during their off-season. For example, let's say your analysis determines that a property would be a great deal at $150,000.
Stay disciplined, trust the numbers, and ensure the deal aligns with your projected profit margins before moving forward. Success in flipping starts with purchasing at the right price.
This knowledge is transferable to other investment strategies, such as rental property investing, real estate notes, and multifamily property investments. Their services as a buyer's agent are typically free for you, as their commission is covered by the seller.
Even when hiring contractors, investors must stay actively involved in the process. At its core, house flipping is a form of real estate investing where an investor purchases a property, makes strategic improvements, and quickly resells it for a profit.
Why Should You Flip Houses?
Once our offer on a property is accepted, our experts conduct a final round of due diligence. The real estate market saw median profits of approximately $73,500 per property in 2024-though inexperienced investors often earned below that amount." The most substantial profits in house flipping often come from sweat equity.
Major firms, including global investment company KKR, have begun funding flip-loan markets, making it even more challenging for individual investors to secure the best deals. If renovations are not completed correctly, the investor may need to invest additional time and money to bring the property up to standard before selling.
Once our real estate team confirms that we have a solid investment property, we establish the LLC that will hold the asset, secure any necessary financing, complete all title and escrow documents, and officially close the deal. You then have five business days to transfer the funds and secure your place in the investment.
Investors should not expect to buy a distressed home for half its market value and sell it for an enormous profit. Negotiation is a standard part of the process, and it's crucial to remain firm on your numbers.
How to Start Flipping Houses Step By Step
A word of caution: Don’t fall into the trap of endless education without action. Consider what your ideal price range is, what type of properties you are targeting, what level of renovations you are comfortable managing, and which neighborhoods offer the best opportunities for profit. If you're financing the purchase, you'll need to budget for a down payment, as well as ongoing mortgage payments, which include both principal and interest.
Properties with ADUs are growing in popularity, particularly in expanding urban markets with housing shortages, such as Los Angeles. On average, it takes between four to six months from the purchase date to complete and sell a flipped home.
Novice investors frequently underestimate the time, money, and skill required to successfully flip a home. If you haven’t read it thoroughly—taking notes along the way—you’re not preparing enough.
To capitalize on this demand, a key part of our proven house flipping strategy often involves building an ADU on the property. Those who succeed in flipping houses are the ones who commit to continuous education, strategic planning, and disciplined execution.
How to buy a house in San Antonio, TX
This ensures that the title is clear, there are no permit restrictions, and there are no structural defects that could impact the renovation process. While prior experience in real estate or construction is beneficial, the most critical factor is a willingness to learn.
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Additionally, because of the volume of projects we manage, we are able to negotiate favorable rates on both labor and materials.
The listing agent represents the seller and has a legal obligation to get them the highest possible price-this creates a conflict of interest. In California, the median rental rate for an ADU is $2,000 per month, but in high-value markets like Los Angeles, this can reach up to $4,000 per month.
Investing is all about the numbers. Once you've identified a strong investment property, the next step is making an offer and securing it under contract.
However, if it's currently listed at $275,000, you can immediately rule it out. Every market has different price points, buyer preferences, and investment potential.
In a neighborhood where homes typically sell for $400,000, purchasing a property for $200,000 and expecting to resell it for $300,000 is highly unlikely. For example, an investor might offer $65,000 on a property, only to be turned down. Selling the flipped property is another time-consuming stage.
Institutional investors and private equity firms have also entered the house flipping market, increasing competition for properties. If an investor completes a flip every three months, they could potentially earn six figures.
Unlike traditional businesses that require inventory, specialized equipment, or employees, flipping primarily requires capital for a down payment and renovation costs. If you found the property off-market, you may need to negotiate directly with the seller or involve a real estate attorney to ensure the contract is legally sound.
Some investors get lucky and find their first flip within weeks, while others search for months before identifying the perfect property. Eliminating contingencies increases risk, so it’s essential to weigh the potential downsides before making a decision.
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Flipping houses is a time-intensive endeavor. A successful flip investment starts with identifying the right property. This hands-on experience will help you develop a keen eye for identifying profitable opportunities.
Every property has a price point where it becomes a great deal, and your job is to identify that sweet spot. Each project also includes an ROI calculator, where you can enter an investment amount to see your estimated target share and projected return.
In today's competitive market, speed is essential. Using tools like the BiggerPockets House Flipping Calculator can help refine your analysis.
For example, an investor might purchase a dated home in a promising neighborhood for $300,000, invest $50,000 in renovations, and sell it for $400,000-resulting in a $50,000 profit before accounting for holding costs and taxes. Sometimes, a two-bedroom house can be converted into a three-bedroom, or a property with one bathroom can be reconfigured to include a second.
About Real estate investing
Buying and selling real estate for profit
Real estate makes up the largest asset class in the world. Much larger than bonds and stocks, which respectively rank second and third by total market cap.
Real estate investing involves the purchase, management and sale or rental of real estate for profit. Someone who actively or passively invests in real estate is called a real estate entrepreneur or a real estate investor. In contrast, real estate development is building, improving or renovating real estate.
During the 1980s, real estate investment funds became increasingly involved in international real estate development. This shift led to real estate becoming a global asset class. Investing in real estate in foreign countries often requires specialized knowledge of the real estate market in that country. As international real estate investment became increasingly common in the early 21st century, the availability and quality of information regarding international real estate markets increased.[1] Real estate is one of the primary areas of investment in China, where an estimated 70% of household wealth is invested in real estate.[2]
Real estate investing can be divided according to level of financial risk into core, value-added, and opportunistic.[3] Real estate is divided into several broad categories, including residential property, commercial property and industrial property.[4]
Real estate markets in most countries are not as organized or efficient as markets for other, more liquid investment instruments. Individual properties are unique to themselves and not directly interchangeable, which makes evaluating investments less certain. Unlike other investments, real estate is fixed in a specific location and derives much of its value from that location. With residential real estate, the perceived safety of a neighbourhood and the number of services or amenities nearby can increase the value of a property. For this reason, the economic and social situation in an area is often a major factor in determining the value of its real estate.[5]
Property valuation is often the preliminary step taken during a real estate investment. Information asymmetry is commonplace in real estate markets, where one party may have more accurate information regarding the actual value of the property. Real estate investors typically use a variety of real estate appraisal techniques to determine the value of properties before purchase. This typically includes gathering documents and information about the property, inspecting the physical property, and comparing it to the market value of similar properties.[6] A common method of valuing real estate is by dividing its net operating income by its capitalization rate, or CAP rate.[7]
Investment properties are often purchased from a variety of sources, including market listings, real estate agents or brokers, banks, government entities such as Fannie Mae, public auctions, sales by owners, and real estate investment trusts.
Real estate assets are typically expensive, and investors will generally not pay the entire amount of the purchase price of a property in cash. Usually, a large portion of the purchase price will be financed using some sort of financial instrument or debt, such as a mortgage loan collateralized by the property itself. The amount of the purchase price financed by debt is referred to as leverage. The amount financed by the investor's own capital, through cash or other asset transfers, is referred to as equity. The ratio of leverage to total appraised value (often referred to as "LTV", or loan to value for a conventional mortgage) is one mathematical measure of the risk an investor is taking by using leverage to finance the purchase of a property. Investors usually seek to decrease their equity requirements and increase their leverage, so that their return on investment is maximized. Lenders and other financial institutions usually have minimum equity requirements for real estate investments they are being asked to finance, typically on the order of 20% of appraised value. Investors seeking low equity requirements may explore alternate financing arrangements as part of the purchase of a property (for instance, seller financing, seller subordination, private equity sources, etc.)
If the property requires substantial repair, traditional lenders like banks will often not lend on a property and the investor may be required to borrow from a private lender using a short-term bridge loan like a hard money loan. Hard money loans are usually short-term loans where the lender charges a much higher interest rate because of the higher-risk nature of the loan. Hard money loans are typically at a much lower loan-to-value ratio than conventional mortgages.
Some real estate investment organizations, such as real estate investment trusts (REITs) and some pension funds and hedge funds, have large enough capital reserves and investment strategies to allow 100% equity in the properties that they purchase. This minimizes the risk which comes from leverage but also limits potential return on investment.
By leveraging the purchase of an investment property, the required periodic payments to service the debt create an ongoing (and sometimes large) negative cash flow beginning from the time of purchase. This is sometimes referred to as the carry cost or "carry" of the investment. To be successful, real estate investors must manage their cash flows to create enough positive income from the property to at least offset the carry costs.[citation needed]
In the United States, with the signing of the JOBS Act in April 2012 by President Obama, there was an easing on investment solicitations. A newer method of raising equity in smaller amounts is through real estate crowdfunding which can pool accredited and non-accredited investors together in a special purpose vehicle for all or part of the equity capital needed for the acquisition. Fundrise was the first company to crowdfund a real estate investment in the United States.[8][9]
Real estate properties may generate revenue through a number of means, including net operating income, tax shelter offsets, equity build-up, and capital appreciation. Net operating income is the sum of all profits from rents and other sources of ordinary income generated by a property, minus the sum of ongoing expenses, such as maintenance, utilities, fees, taxes, and other expenses. Rent is one of the main sources of revenue in commercial real estate investment. Tenants pay an agreed upon sum to landlords in exchange for the use of real property, and may also pay a portion of upkeep or operating expenses on the property.[10]
Tax shelter offsets occur in one of three ways: depreciation (which may sometimes be accelerated), tax credits, and carryover losses which reduce tax liability charged against income from other sources for a period of 27.5 years. Some tax shelter benefits can be transferable, depending on the laws governing tax liability in the jurisdiction where the property is located. These can be sold to others for a cash return or other benefits.
Equity build-up is the increase in the investor's equity ratio as the portion of debt service payments devoted to principal accrue over time. Equity build-up counts as positive cash flow from the asset where the debt service payment is made out of income from the property, rather than from independent income sources.
Capital appreciation is the increase in the market value of the asset over time, realized as a cash flow when the property is sold. Capital appreciation can be very unpredictable unless it is part of a development and improvement strategy. The purchase of a property for which the majority of the projected cash flows are expected from capital appreciation (prices going up) rather than other sources is considered speculation rather than investment. Research results that found that real estate firms are more likely to take a smaller stake in larger assets when investing abroad (Mauck & Price, 2017).
Some individuals and companies focus their investment strategy on purchasing properties that are in some stage of foreclosure. A property is considered in pre-foreclosure when the homeowner has defaulted on their mortgage loan. Formal foreclosure processes vary by state and may be judicial or non-judicial, which affects the length of time the property is in the pre-foreclosure phase. Once the formal foreclosure processes are underway, these properties can be purchased at a public sale, usually called a foreclosure auction or sheriff's sale. If the property does not sell at the public auction, then ownership of the property is returned to the lender.[11] Properties at this phase are called Real Estate Owned, or REOs.
Once a property is sold at the foreclosure auction or as an REO, the lender may keep the proceeds to satisfy their mortgage and any legal costs that they incurred minus the costs of the sale and any outstanding tax obligations.
The foreclosing bank or lending institution has the right to continue to honor tenant leases (if there are tenants in the property) during the REO phase but usually, the bank wants the property vacant to sell it more easily.[12]
Buy, rehab, rent, refinance (BRRR)[13] is a real estate investment strategy, used by real estate investors who have experience renovating or rehabbing properties to "flip" houses.[14] BRRR is different from "flipping" houses. Flipping houses implies buying a property and quickly selling it for a profit, with or without repairs. BRRR is a long-term investment strategy that involves renting out a property and letting it appreciate in value before selling it. Renting out a BRRR property provides a stable passive income source that is used to cover mortgage payments while home price appreciation increases future capital gains.[15]
The phrase was slightly updated in a 2022 Bloomberg News article noting that BiggerPockets added "Repeat" to the end, making it "BRRRR" to describe a real estate investing strategy of Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat.[16]
According to Lima et al. (2022), in Ireland, the financialization of rental housing, which includes the entry of institutional investors into urban rental housing markets, contributed to structural factors that create homelessness directly by worsening affordability and security in the private rental market, and indirectly by influencing state policy.[17][18] It was found that the history, politics, and geography of the REITs cause the collapse of Irelands market (Waldron, 2018).
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MacGregor, Bryan D.; Schulz, Rainer; Green, Richard K. (7 December 2018). Routledge Companion to Real Estate Investment. Routledge. ISBN9781317687856.
