I can’t figure it out

[Ginger Mermer]

I purchased my own home, tackled many renovation projects (while living there for 5 years), and sold it for $125,000 more than I bought it for. Which is great, but I don’t want to wait 5 years every time, in order to make any money. I enjoyed the renovations, and would like to tackle flipping, but I can’t figure out how to make it work financially.

I am hoping to either build or buy my own house. And I want to find one to flip. But I don’t have the cash to do one of those as cash only, but I also can’t qualify for financing for two properties, even if I’m not planning to live in one. 

So my query is whether there is a way to make both those things happen. The hard money lenders I’ve spoken to can’t offer enough of the purchase price that I can make up the difference in cash. Maybe I need to be considering places in worse conditions? 

Thanks for any thoughts and ideas or advice. 

[Dustin Allen]

@Ginger Mermer

You can do it every two years if it’s your primary residence and avoid paying capital gains tax on at least part of the profits. (Not a tax specialist, consult yours and get a new one if they tell you you have to live there for 5 years).

Maybe do a couple more as a primary and build up your cash on hand. Then you could start doing another property on the side. A purely investment flip will cost you more on the tax side but it can obviously still be worth it if you’re doing it well.