Since Los Angeles homes are overbought and overpriced :banghead (just no more room to make profit), I would like to Flip Homes out of state. I was thinking of going to cities where I knew some people (not the investor types though). I will not leave my home. I will just coordinate everything hi-tech. Network with Realtors. Contractors and so forth. Also I will partner my local Contact. I will fly in between.
DO YOU THINK THIS IS DOABLE? :deal
Any suggestions from people who have done it? Thanks for your feedbacks.
I’m doing it now. I think the most important thing is you do need to be familiar with the area. I have lived in the area before so I know it well. You need to make a trip there and look at houses for sale. See what neighborhoods are like for yourself. See what’s going on in the area.
You also need a really good contractor. I screened through about 30 before I selected one.
How far do you live now from the that out of state area you are Flipping?
How do you handle the payments to the Contractor when it’s time to pay per job progress, if you are out of state?
Also, how often do you come and go to manage your Flip?
I’m 2,500 miles. I rely on contractor photos and progress checks by my realtor. I mail a check based on agreed upon points. I paid $5k up front to order custom windows and for his plumber. He was almost done when I paid another $5k. Then I paid the rest upon completion. If a contractor wants most or all of the money upfront then I’d be skeptical.
I use the same realtor to buy and sell. He’s willing to do the extra effort and makes some useful suggestions on things that will help the property sell quicker.
I think you’re more likely to have unexpected oops if you do it this way. You need to make sure there’s plenty of margin there so even if things aren’t perfect you make money. I target my total costs at 60% of my selling price.
Are you wanting to wholesale, or fix & flip? I’d say for fix & flip, one of the best things you could do is find a wholesaler in the city you want to do flips in. The wholesaler knows the area.
There’s a fix & flip guy that comes into my City from out of state for about 2 weeks out of every month. Since I’m a wholesaler, he’s always asking if I have any properties to flip. Of course, he has a realtor & a contractor on his team.