Rehabbing properties for profit can be incredibly fun and exciting. If you are on a budget however, it can be nerve racking, confusing and frustrating, especially if it is your first time or two around.
With the right strategy for rehabbing properties you can make money flipping houses and turn them around faster than you probably thought possible
Successfully rehabbing properties all starts with good planning. Above all this means inspect, inspect, inspect.
If you don’t do thorough home inspections and really know what you are getting yourself into you face jumping in way over your head and ending up trapped in debt.
Know exactly what needs to be fixed or upgraded, carefully budget your project and draft a timeline so that you don’t have to go back and redo any work later.
Cosmetics such as improving curb appeal can be the most important for generating interest and making your homes stick out and get noticed. This can bring speed and emotion to trigger offers but no matter how attractive the offers, they’ll only stick if you have put money into real improvements which increase the appraised value of the property.
Unnecessarily upgrading flooring and putting in pretty flowers is not going to achieve this. Yes, dress it up. Use inexpensive accessories and accents to make the home look prettier without breaking the bank but save your real cash for investing in items which will raise the real value.
Don’t over improve. Don’t go crazy on style and design. You aren’t going to live there and no one else might if you run out of money before completely rehabbing properties. In most properties today you can skip the granite, marble and real hardwood floors. Attractive substitutes can do the job just fine, unless you are in a high end area that demands it.
You can also be smart about upgrades and adding value by sticking to marble in the bathrooms where you won’t need much, keeping kitchen counters small, resurfacing cabinets and changing out hardware with more stylish looking styles rather than ripping everything out and starting from scratch and pay attention to how much of a difference lighting can do.
Make sure you get plenty of quotes before you start rehabbing properties, no matter how nice the first guy is. Always have reserves set aside for overages and set aside some cash for marketing. Often marketing makes all the difference.
