subject: Flipping Homes: Life After the Pink Slip [print this page] The business of flipping homes is but a wild idea on the back of the minds of some people. But to some workers who were laid off during the economic meltdown, it is their life after the job termination.
Way back in high school or college, the psychology of having to finish school and getting a decent office job was so solid in people's mind. You, now an employee, are working 8-5 every single day of your post-school life until the economy crashed. You heard the word recession for the first time and you knew it didn't sound right. A day like the other days, you are called to the manager's office and you receive a termination form. This is but a common story today as the U.S. battles a 9.6% unemployment rate. But when you thought there was no life after the pink slip, laid off workers who are now flipping houses will prove you wrong.
Flipping homes is basically making money by quickly reselling real estate. There are variations of this real estate investing method although the most popular types are probably wholesaling houses and rehabbing homes. The first one is selling properties at a wholesale price. That means that you must be able to purchase properties so low that if a retailer bought them from you, he'd still be able to make profit from the resale. One way to secure properties at such low prices is to buy and sell them "as is." That means you will purchase and sell them even if they require repairs.
The other method of flipping houses is called rehabbing, which is short for rehabilitating. It is called as such because you basically have to rehab the property to make sure it is in a "move in" condition. Home buyers usually want properties that are already ready to accommodate them. As you remember, wholesalers buy and sell properties as is. You take the house from there, turn it into a home, and sell it to the home buyer. Like the first variation, this is a profitable business because of the very cheap properties available in today's market.
But regardless of what variation of flipping homes you choose, the important thing to remember when flipping houses for the first time is to acquire properties as low as possible. That way, you'll be able to make profit despite unexpected costs. Don't forget too that because this is your new source of income, your profit will largely depend on your performance as an investor. After all, you are now your own boss.
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