Real estate investing for rehabbing requires that you master a critical skill: determining the ARV, or the After-RepairValue, of a property. This number determines what purchase price you should offer`the seller to lock in your profit.   You can research the ARV before you know the contractor’s estimate, or your purchase price.Look outwardly at the market, and let comparables guide you toward the ARV.With the ARV in hand you will know how much this deal will earn after all the costs are paid out – rehab costs, selling costs, and all carrying costs.   Wholesalers especially must be able to Read more…

This month’s wholesaling theme will have you searching for real estate investors to take over projects you’ve found. These people will also be great contacts for future real estate investor sales, partnerships,and sources of great leads – so here are some tips on where the elusive real estate investors may be found.   Real estate investors aren’t that hard to find if you think about it – in fact, they are trying to find you, or at least your wholesale property that’s primed to make them money!Be out there in the space they hunt for such properties. Put together a Read more…

Selling your wholesale property to a real estate investor is about making this a deal that is hard to pass up. Your target investor may say they are all out of ready cash right now – but flipping is a cash-eating beast, so busy flippers are almost always lean on cash. But investors have to find their next deal somewhere. It’s about presenting them with a profit so good they will scrape, scratch, deal or steal the cash to close on your wholesale property. Show your target investor a firm, well-supported ARV (After-Repair Value, the market value once the house Read more…

If you are new to the term “wholesaling”, start by reading my blog post “Wholesaling – How To Make Money with No Cash”, and get acquainted with the basics of this great investing tool.   As I reviewed in the above linked post, wholesaling is an ideal entry point for new real estate investors because they can make money with little or no cash, as long as they will do the work and make good decisions. In comparison, buying to rehab and sell requires cash – cash for construction, utilities and other carrying costs, cash for selling costs and other Read more…

Are you eager to get into real estate investing – but broke and don’t know where to start? Are you an investor in need of fast cash for the next deal – but lending and other cash sources are temporarily tapped out? Here’s the way to make a quick few thousand, with a little knowledge, a lot of ambition, and some networking into the real estate investor community. It’s called wholesaling, and it’s the way to make sure you are in control of the deal, and you get paid fast. The best part: there is little or no need for Read more…

You’re reviewing a list of flip prospects, none yet visited in person. How do you tell now which have possible returns that are worth further an inspection, quotes and further research – and which are not worth your time?   On-the-fly calculations and/or ratios can be done by developing your own standard assumptions (and be prepared to completely change themas you delve into individual properties).   Example of standard assumptions Rehab/improvements: 25% of the purchase price (includes labor, materials, permits, everything spent directly on the property) If the above number is less than $20,000, use a minimum $20,000 (or $15,000 Read more…

You’ve probably heard someone not-so-experienced in real estate with a house for sale who is expecting a premium selling price as they brag how buyers will love the surround-sound system, or the customized cabinetry, or the designer wallpaper and interior paint – only to find out later that the house sold for about average for the neighborhood. What’s up with that?   What’s up is that the vast majority of home buyers aren’t shopping for extra features over and above what’s expected in their price range, and they certainly aren’t interested in paying for them.   Most home buyers select Read more…

Found a super-duper purchase price on a nice-looking property that backs up to a busy road? Even after you work some flipper magic,it may be like climbing Mt. Everest to persuade a home buyer to take it, no matter how gorgeous it is or how much you discount the listing price. The vast majority of home buyers just don’t want properties backing up to busy roads or located on busy corners, regardless of the positives.   Such properties will almost always face a significant price hitto entice a buyer to make an offer.Not only are most buyers reluctant to live Read more…

You may be considering the biggest house in the neighborhood as a flip prospect; or, you may be considering building an addition to enlarge a flip project house.Be warned that you don’t want to be marketing the biggest house in the neighborhood!Why is that?   Imagine the market of all the buyers in this neighborhood as a bell curve. The biggest section of buyers is found around the middle of the bell– by definition, the average sales price.That is the sweet spot, the price range with the most buyers so you can sell your flip project more quickly.   What’s Read more…

Should you build on a rambling addition, or pop the top of your flip house, to bump it up significantly in price range? In this post I delve deeper into the principals behind successful flips.Ask the question: “What is the highest and best use of this property, in this environment, for the near future?”   Any improvement of significant cost and scope should be done IFand ONLY if it put this property squarely in the MIDDLE of the packin size and price range, with the largest volume of current sales.The largest market segment obviously has the most home buyers – Read more…