Most flips you've done in 1 year? Where did you find the workers?

Question

I think I can currently do 12/year. I really have only one reliable guy, but he works hard every day. I do some work also.

I would like to eventually do 30+/year. It has been very hard finding reliable workers. I've even had licensed contractors flake on me after promising to give a quote.

For those of you who do so many flips that you can't possibly do the work yourself... How do you find your workers/contractors?

And what's the most you've ever done in 1 year?

Account Closed · Answer

You have an interesting business model. When I was doing flips, in Seattle a long while back, sometimes I could get 3 in a year sometimes one. My profit was never below $30,000 on the quick ones and sometimes $300,000 net on the longer ones. This was when $500,000 bought you a nice house in a nice neighborhood in the city. I always bought very well tho'. Now it takes that amount to buy a 2 bed 1 bath built in 1926 ;-)

Why is it important to you to do 30 a year? Are values very low and net income low? Do you realize that flips are taxed at the highest rate? I was never able to find enough reliable workers at an affordable price to have more than a couple of projects going at once. Now granted, I plumb and wire to code and since it was faster and easier to do it myself, I chose to do the electrical and plumbing.

If you have the energy to do 30 in a year, you would make far, far more money with less taxes buying Subject To and selling to tenant buyers who give you 10% down and do the repairs themselves. That is the model I switched to some years ago, and now I enjoy very nice cash flow from my tenant buyers as well as getting the down payments up front. I continue on because I enjoy the thrill of the chase.

For the Subject To I did last week in Mesa, I am into it for $10,000 and about a week later I was given $20,000 down from my tenant buyer. No bank, no bank hassles. When he refinances I'll get the other $30,000 in equity from the deal. I'm getting $600 a month in positive cash flow. The place needs a new roof, which he will replace, the place needs to be painted, which he will do, there are various and sundry repairs which he will do. And he is thrilled to be able to own a home without having to get bank financing. What could be better? I helped the guy I bought the house from, I helped  the guy I sold to, and I get to go on a nice vacation with my wife without doing the fix & flip routine. Why ever would you want to do 30 fix & flips in a year? If you like pounding nails, buy some lumber and nails and do it on vacation for fun. If you want to be successful, think outside the box.

Account Closed · Answer

This is a great topic, I am currently targeted to complete 10 flips this year, and as a licenses agent, I am also in the process of getting a Contractors License and operation my own crews; huge efficiency and profits here. I have calculated an extra net gain of about $10-15k per flip, if I run my own crews. I plan to do this in 2019 and then hire someone to manage it in 2020.