Flipping Houses For Dummies - Comprehensive And Practical
If you're thinking of getting into house flipping and you want to buy just one good book that'll teach you the ins and outs, I recommend Flipping Houses For Dummies by Ralph R. Roberts. Mr. Roberts has been playing the real estate game, including flipping houses, for over 30 years.
The book is quite comprehensive, covering everything from finding the house, estimating the potential profit, getting the money you need, rehabbing the property and selling the place to figuring the tax bite. The first page is a handy cheat sheet printed on heavy stock that you can rip out and carry with you as you go through the process of renovating and reselling properties for profit, just to remind you of some of the salient points covered in the book. Do read the whole book, however.
In chapter 2, which may be the most important one in the book, Roberts takes a realistic tone when helping readers assess whether or not they have the personality traits necessary to become a successful flipper. While he's not discouraging, he also disagrees with real estate investment gurus who claim anyone can do it. He presents a very pragmatic picture of the flip process and provides a lot of questions the reader can ask themselves to decide if they have a good chance of being successful at renovating houses for profit.
The book also includes a number of before and after pictures from the author's flips, and he presents the reader with a number of different strategies for flipping, such as buying into a hot market, buying low and doing nothing while going for a quick sale, buying low, "applying makeup" and selling quick, buying low, doing a renovation and selling high, buying to hold and rent the property, investing in new construction, and more. As I said before, rather a than pie in the sky you-can't-fail attitude, he's realistic and even has a section on surviving a flip that flops, where he says that failure is one of the best educators and can build confidence. Makes sense, and being prepared ahead of time can help to insure that should you experience such a flop it really is a learning experience and not a total catastrophe. Just a few of the many other sections in the book are about cutting your capital gains taxes by carefully choosing deductions, evaluating the neighborhood for both good and bad features, inspecting the house for costly problems, and negotiating with the buyer for the maximum profit. If you're planning to get started in flipping houses, I recommend you utilize all the information sources available to you, but if you only intend to buy one book, then give Flipping Houses For Dummies your highest consideration.
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