Flipping
FLIPPING PROPERTIES Part 1, By Bill Woodall
By Bill Woodall
Jun 15, 2005, 23:49

There are two definitions for flipping in the Real Estate investment industry, Retail flipping and Wholesale flipping. Retail flipping can be defined as buying a property wholesale, rehabbing it if necessary, and re selling it on the retail market for profit. Wholesale flipping can be defined as acquiring an interest in a wholesale property and then quickly selling that interest for profit (usually to another investor). This article concerns the second definition, wholesale flipping.

If you have little cash and little access to credit lines, the quickest way to break into the Real Estate investing industry and produce quick cash is to learn to flip properties to other investors. Wholesaling properties for quick cash is something that anyone can do, even the beginning investor. Following is a description of the six basic steps involved in flipping a property.

Step 1: Making the Offer and Signing the Contract
Whether you go after foreclosure properties, FSBO properties (for sale by owner), or properties listed in the MLS; you will never, I repeat, never be able to flip a property unless you first make an offer on it, and second, lock it up with a contract. When you make your offer, you always need to keep your exit strategy in mind. Since your exit strategy is to flip the property to a rehab investor, your offer should be based on an accurate estimate of the retail value of the property after repairs less the amount of repairs, the holding costs for the rehabber, the rehabber's closing costs to both buy and sell, a profit margin for the rehabber, and lastly a profit margin for you, the wholesaler.

The maximum that most rehabbers will pay for good properties is 70% of Market Value minus the repairs and other expenses named above. A simpler formula is 65% of market value less repairs (as 5% usually covers the other expenses). Your wholesale profit will usually fall between $1,000 and $7,500. Never get too greedy unless you have the ability to close the deal yourself. Once your offer is accepted, you need to meet with the seller to sign the contract. On properties listed in the MLS, your offer will be initially made with a signed contract and agreed changes to that offer will be initialed.

Step 2: Start Title Work
Once the contract is signed, get the contract to the Title Company so that they can immediately start title work on the property. They will order a title search and schedule a closing date. There are a couple of reasons to start the title work ASAP. First, you want to make sure the title work is completed before the closing date as well as wanting enough time to cure any title problems that might arise. Second, you want to be able to close right away should your buyer have the ability to do so.

Step 3: Begin Marketing to Find a Buyer
There are several avenues for marketing your properties. However, your main method should be to call the people on your "Buyers List." A "Buyers List" is a list of real buyers that you have compiled by qualifying them as to their ability to close for cash quickly. You should also qualify these buyers as to the specific areas that they buy in, the type of properties that they buy, the price range of properties that they buy, and what percentage of Market Value that they pay for properties.

The better that you become at compiling your "Buyers List", the easier it becomes to wholesale properties. Therefore, setting up their "Buyers List" becomes the first step for most successful "newbie" flippers. Another avenue is to market your property to investors is by running ads in the investor section of newspapers as well on investor-oriented web sites like AIREO.com.

Step 4: Come to an Agreement With a Prospective Buyer
At some point, someone will show an interest in buying your property. Whether you have one interested buyer or many buyers at the same time will depend on how good the deal is. The more buyers that you have, the less flexible you have to be in reaching a final sales price. You must learn to qualify you buyers correctly for two reasons. First, you want to continually add good qualified buyers to your "Buyers List." Second, you can't afford to let someone, who cannot close, tie your property up keeping you from selling it to a real buyer prior to the closing date. Remember you are under contract to close with your seller even if your buyer doesn't close with you. Make sure the prospective buyer has cash or an available line of credit to close with. Make the buyer provide proof of funds if necessary.

Step 5: Sign a Contract and Collect a Deposit
After verifying your buyer's source of funds, meet with them and sign a contract. You should require the buyer to put up a $1,000 Earnest Money Deposit with the signed contract. I've found that this $1,000 deposit separates the men from the boys. Anyone who does not have the ability to put up a $1,000 Earnest Money Deposit is not a real cash buyer. You can also use a one-page "Assignment of Contract" form to sell you interest in the deal to another investor. This assignment form allows another investor to take your place in completing the transaction. I recommend only using an assignment of contract with investors that you know well. It is much less binding on your buyer to show up for closing and you may get left holding the bag. The assignment does, however, lower the closing costs because there is only one closing instead of two.

Step 6: Submit Documents to Title Co. & Schedule the Closing
Take the executed sale documents to the Title Company and Schedule a closing date. Now here's the best part. Go to closing and collect your check!

Flipping properties is a great way to make a good living from Real Estate. It is also the easiest way for a "newbie" to make money while learning the Real Estate business. However, it is true that you can't steal in slow motion. The very best deals go very fast. The quicker an investor learns the basics of evaluating properties and correctly estimating repairs, the better his chance of finding, as well as recognizing, the very best deals. Money is made in Real Estate when you buy it. Therefore, it behooves the new investor to do whatever it takes to master these tasks as quickly as possible. The very success of his Real Estate investing career is dependent upon it.

My "Stealth System Boot Camp" is a "3 day, fast-paced, jump-start" to success in Real Estate investing. The "Stealth System" seminar in Real Estate investing is designed to give new, as well as experienced, investors all of the tools they need to immediately understand the concepts as well complete all of the tasks required to successfully compete in today's fast paced Real Estate marketplace.