Those three little words, "and/or assigns," lead us to one of the most popular strategies in real estate: flipping houses by assigning contracts. Only, is it a good idea? Like any strategy, assignable contracts have their advantages and disadvantages. Thousands of people have made money by using them, but it’s important to understand the ups and downs of the strategy before committing yourself to it. First, let’s talk about the advantages:
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December 18th, 2005 | Posted in Flipping | Comments Off
One of the most powerful clauses in real estate investing is "and/or assigns." By putting those three little words in a contract after the name of the buyer, you not only gain exclusive control over the property, but you also create the opportunity to assign your contract to an investor for a fee.
To illustrate, here is an example clause from a normal contract:
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December 18th, 2005 | Posted in Definitions | Comments Off
If you’re flipping houses, the worst thing that can happen to you is buying a house that you can’t sell. You make money by quickly flipping the house to another investor, not tying up your cash for months in a dud real estate investment.
The reality is buying houses at discounts isn’t enough; you need the ability to sell the houses once you buy them. So, how can you ensure that you’ll be able to unload a real estate investment to your database of investors? This post will tell you how.
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December 17th, 2005 | Posted in Flipping | 3 Comments
Of all the investing strategies available to beginners, flipping houses is probably the most exciting. You buy a real estate investment well under market value and then resell it to another investor for a small but fast profit. So, instead of waiting six months or longer to sell to an average homebuyer, you make money in a matter of days or weeks. It sounds great, but how much money do flippers really make?
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December 17th, 2005 | Posted in Flipping | Comments Off
In real estate investing, a "spread" is the difference between the property’s fair market value and the total sum invested. If it sounds complicated, here’s an example. If you buy a house that is worth $100,000 for $70,000, the spread is:
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December 17th, 2005 | Posted in Definitions | Comments Off
Flipping, wholesaling — you can call it whatever you want, but how do investors actually "flip" a house? We’ve discussed a few of the finer details in other posts, and now it’s time to put it all together into one coherent process. From start to finish, here are basic steps for flipping a house:
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December 7th, 2005 | Posted in Flipping | Comments Off
If you want to make money flipping houses, you need to clear your inventory fast. The wealthiest wholesalers expect to sell their real estate investment in hours, not days or weeks. Their mantra is, "$5,000 in one day is better than $10,000 in two months." In order to sell their property quickly, they build a database of investors waiting to buy from them at wholesale prices. The more investors in their database, the faster they sell… and the more money they make. Here are three tips for building your own database:
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December 5th, 2005 | Posted in Flipping | Comments Off
No term in the real estate investing field is more misunderstood than flipping. Realtors and attorneys will tell you that flipping a house is illegal. Is it? The answer is yes… and no. "Flipping" has two separate definitions. The one attorneys and realtors talk about is illegal. Investors use the second and completely different definition, which is not illegal. In case you get into a debate on the subject, let’s go through each of them step by step.
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November 29th, 2005 | Posted in Definitions, Flipping | Comments Off
Financing is the single most important topic in real estate investing. Choosing the right real estate financing strategy is also essential for long-term success. Do it right and you’ll both minimize your risk and leverage your cash beyond what most people believe is possible. Do it wrong… and you’ll go bankrupt. In this answer, you’ll learn the advantages and disadvantages of each strategy, along with suggestions on where and how to use them.
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November 29th, 2005 | Posted in Financing | 2 Comments
Conventional loans, hard money, seller financing — sometimes none of them are a good fit to your deal. So, you create your own real estate financing. The savviest dealmakers raise money from friends and investors to create their own fund of available capital. Because the capital is set aside exclusively for you, most people call it private money. It’s a powerful form of leverage, and this post is going to give you the basics for raising it.
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November 28th, 2005 | Posted in Financing | Comments Off
