1. They are very difficult to pull off. You likely either need access to low cost labor (your own crew) or access to deal flow through direct to seller outreach.
2. The best deals will not qualify for a conventional loan, so you will either need cash or higher interest debt. That high interest debt (usually 10-15%) is typically on a term of 6-18 months. You better be confident that you can get in and out of a deal in that time frame to avoid fees, hassles, and interest snowballing against you.
3. Consider a live-in flip. That's how I got started. As you may know, if you live in it for 2 years, you can sell and not pay taxes on the gain. It is also much lower risk given that you can use owner occupied loans and work on a longer timeline.
4. Understand what you are getting into. You'll buy an absolute mess of a property and will not fully know the issues until you already own it. It is stressful, difficult, and expensive.
1. They are very difficult to pull off. You likely either need access to low cost labor (your own crew) or access to deal flow through direct to seller outreach.
2. The best deals will not qualify for a conventional loan, so you will either need cash or higher interest debt. That high interest debt (usually 10-15%) is typically on a term of 6-18 months. You better be confident that you can get in and out of a deal in that time frame to avoid fees, hassles, and interest snowballing against you.
3. Consider a live-in flip. That's how I got started. As you may know, if you live in it for 2 years, you can sell and not pay taxes on the gain. It is also much lower risk given that you can use owner occupied loans and work on a longer timeline.
4. Understand what you are getting into. You'll buy an absolute mess of a property and will not fully know the issues until you already own it. It is stressful, difficult, and expensive.
Hello I need someone who can help me start in fix and flip properties, where would I start
The best place to start is learning how to analyze deals before ever buying one. A lot of new flippers focus on the house itself, but the real skill is understanding purchase price, rehab costs, ARV, holding costs, and exit strategy. I’d start by studying sold comps in your area, walking properties with contractors, and learning how experienced investors estimate rehab budgets. Also, don’t feel locked into your local market, many newer investors are finding better entry points and margins in Midwest markets, where the numbers are a little more forgiving while you learn the business.
Travis hit the key points. I've done multiple flips personally and the biggest thing I tell people starting out is to study the margins before anything else.
In Wilkes-Barre/Scranton specifically: it's a market where the entry points are low but so is the ARV ceiling. That means your rehab budget has to be tight — there's no room for overbuilding the renovation. Learn the sold comp prices by neighborhood before you ever make an offer, because what you can buy the house for is only part of the equation. The sold comps tell you what the ceiling is, and in that market the ceiling can be lower than you expect.
Start by analyzing 20-30 recent flips in your target zip codes — what they sold for before and after, what the renovation clearly involved, how long they sat. That pattern recognition is your real education before you commit capital. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk through deal analysis.
Fix and flip lives or dies on your numbers , ARV, rehab cost, and max purchase price. Get those wrong and it doesn't matter how good the deal looks. I'd start by connecting with a wholesaler in the Wilkes-Barre area since that's usually the easiest way to find your first deal without fighting on the MLS. I also use an AI tool to help sanity check comps before I get too attached to a property, which has saved me more than once.