Flipping houses - profitable endeavor?

I'm thinking of buying a cheap house, renovating it myself, and then reselling it, and then rinse and repeat on to the next house.
Can one make a reasonable living doing this?
There are many cheap houses available here in Canada particularly in the East coast. You can get a 3+ bedroom home for under $150K CDN.
I have no experience in DIY but I plan to learn everything as I go. Of course I will do lots of research beforehand. I am very thorough.
Would I legally be able to do things like plumbing and electrical myself or do I have to get someone certified to come do it? Or do I just need an inspector to come by and approve my work?
By doing this I hope to gain profit and, perhaps more importantly, many useful skills and knowledge.
Good idea or is this likely to end in failure?

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  1. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Ur like 30 years late

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      You're saying there's no money in it these days as a solo renovator?

      >ou can get a 3+ bedroom home for under $150K CDN.
      lol

      I don't understand. Are you doubting the truth of that statement or do you not consider $150K to be "cheap"?

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        Go on and tell us how much you expect to spend and how much you expect to sell for.
        And then tell us why the chinks havent bought the housing yet

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          I expect to spend around $150K as I said, at least in the beginning until I can accrue more capital. I don't have an expectation for the selling price, that's part of my question. Hopefully I could sell for
          (purchase price) + (cost of materials) + (reasonable profit)
          With reasonable profit equating to a modest wage, maybe $10-20/hour. Of course I will be slow and inefficient when starting out, however.
          Regarding chinks, I'm afraid I don't quite understand your point. To my understanding, they are known for purchasing properties in high demand, high population cities and sitting on them as an "investment". That seems quite different from what I'm doing. Or are they buying up houses in the East coast too?

          • 2 years ago
            Anonymous

            I think you fundementally misunderstand how flippers flip houses.

            They arent buying the home for outright cash and two they have a goal sale price to meet.

            They do the bare minimum to update a home to a sellable condition and often times get the home up on the market within a year

            In the meantime they pay a mortgage at a higher premium than your average homeowner

            So ideally you buy the home for 150k, mortgage is like 1200 1400 a month

            The most you could get is say 210k from comparables, needs about 35k in materials to make it sellable say bathroom and kitchen reno, paint and flooring

            But now it took you an entire year to do the reno

            You spent 51800 on top of fees and shit and now you made effectively no money and busted your ass

            And there is no guarantee you even will sell

            • 2 years ago
              Anonymous

              Why not pay in outright cash if you have it?
              What kind of fees are you referring to, like realtor fees?
              Also you are just making up numbers and claiming it's not profitable. I could just as easily replace those numbers with different ones to show that it is profitable and it would be just as valid. 5-10k makes a big difference here.

              • 2 years ago
                Anonymous

                not paying outright is like #1 of the basic things rich people do.
                why spend the full amount when you could get one house to flip immediately and three rental properties to improve and flip over time?

              • 2 years ago
                Anonymous

                I don't like the idea of renting and dealing with tenants, so to me that is not appealing, but I can understand not having your money tied up in a low-return asset. To me I just like the idea of owning it outright and not dealing with banks and interest payments, but maybe it is not smart.

              • 2 years ago
                Anonymous

                Leverage, look it up on investopedia

          • 2 years ago
            Anonymous

            >Can one make a reasonable living?
            > I expect to profit $10-20/hr
            You must be 18 to post here op

          • 2 years ago
            Anonymous

            When I buy a house to flip I’m trying to get it for 60-70 cents in a dollar. When I sell it I’m trying to make 30-40k in profit. Those two scenarios don’t always work out but a lot of times they do.

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        >You're saying there's no money in it these days as a solo renovator?
        You’re way too late to the party, it’s over. Monetary conditions are tightening, they literally doubled the interest rate overnight a few weeks back. Housing prices will be decreasing or be stagnant in Canada.
        House down the street bought for 500,000$, solo reno fully. Tore out solid oak cabinets and put mdf trendy ones in etc. Listed for 700,000$, interest rates moved higher by 1% effectively doubling rates. 5 year fixed rate now 5% instead of 2.5%. No one can afford 700,000$, he will be lucky to get his original 500,000 back. Aka that poor bastard has lost money on his Reno job, mortgage payments and property taxes.
        It’s not just that house, every house being built/renovated is not going to sell for what they thought it would. Lots of people going to get heemed, this is a 1980s moment. Lots of people going to lose their shirt.

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          Ok but surely the market will simply adjust and the expected incoming "crash" will be factored into the price? I can understand how you could have been screwed over if you bought before the interest hikes but now they have already occurred so it should already be factored in.

          • 2 years ago
            Anonymous

            Wat

  2. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    >ou can get a 3+ bedroom home for under $150K CDN.
    lol

    • 2 years ago
      Kevin Van Dam

      It’s a horrible time for flippers in the US, this shit has to drop off soon. There’s starting to be more price cuts but it was like +$150k and now in the past month -$15k

  3. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Only thing that's gonna get flipped is your anus hole when you get hit with fines and find out why people mass abandoned that shit.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      What would I be fined for?
      By "that shit", you're referring to the whole endeavour of flipping houses in this manner?
      Is this something that is no longer feasible?

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        You did get permits for everything you did right anon???

  4. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    >Canada particularly in the East coast.
    >You can get a 3+ bedroom home for under $150K CDN.
    the issue with this is that you'd have to actually go there to fix it up, there's no home depot/lowes or home hardware out in the sticks.

  5. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    >Cluelessly buying houses to flip on credit just as the housing market balloon craters
    Kek, congrats, you've found a ticket to bankruptcy that even PrepHole would be jealous in its sheer stupidity.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      I don't see why the housing market would crash with current immigration rates. Maybe Toronto, Vancouver and other big cities would experience a minor crash but I am talking about rural properties here.

      Poor timing anon. Maybe if interest rates were still flat and it was 2008 - 2016 you had a chance. Everyone and their cousin is a "house flipper now" and they are bout to get reamed as the bubble is popping very quickly. Youd be better off usimg your skills to start a small GC business and build that up.

      Point taken. Maybe it is not great timing. Maybe you are right and I am better off starting a business of some kind. I just don't like dealing with people very much and figured it was something I could do on my own, learn some good skills and make a bit of money.
      >GC
      garbage collection?

      Anon, you do realize those house flipping shows are literal paid advertisements by the mortgage and realtor industry organizations and are about as real as WWE, right?
      You realize that for every clueless naive who makes "a reasonable living" flipping a house, 20+ lose their shirts in the process?

      I don't watch those shows but yeah, makes sense that they would be funded in that way.

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        i was going to agree with the other anon, to just become a general contractor if that's the skill you want to waste your time on, that way you don't gamble your life savings when you can't /diy.
        but after reading this post, you should just be a garbage collector

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        >>GC
        >garbage collection?
        GC = general contractor. as in, the dude who hires the electricians, plumbers, and drywall guys who do the actual work.

  6. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Poor timing anon. Maybe if interest rates were still flat and it was 2008 - 2016 you had a chance. Everyone and their cousin is a "house flipper now" and they are bout to get reamed as the bubble is popping very quickly. Youd be better off usimg your skills to start a small GC business and build that up.

  7. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Anon, you do realize those house flipping shows are literal paid advertisements by the mortgage and realtor industry organizations and are about as real as WWE, right?
    You realize that for every clueless naive who makes "a reasonable living" flipping a house, 20+ lose their shirts in the process?

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      Let him drown I say

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      Also even in the real world anyone who isn't losing their ass flipping houses IS a realtor who knows the market intimately and has not just early notice when things get listed, can also get their foot in the door before they get listed and work at it, pay for referrals, leave contact info at potential properties, etc.
      Depressed properties with flip potential that get listed and advertised are the ones that all those professional realtor flippers didn't go for or else they would have flipped them.

  8. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    When I was 20 and knew everything I bought a house to flip for $70k. Spent 6 months working on it nearly full time hours (hard, sweaty, dirty fricking work). Put about $15k worth of materials into it. Came out beautifully. Sat on the market for 6 months costing thousands in interest. Ended up selling for $85k after realtor fees and concessions.

    Best of luck in your endeavor.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      Seems like an argument in favor of buying cash rather than getting a mortgage.
      Do you actually need a realtor? Don't they take a huge cut of your sale? Why are they necessary?

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        Not sure your calculator is working correctly, friend.

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          You just said you paid thousands in interest payments. If you owned it outright those interest payments wouldn't exist. Maybe it would have been unprofitable regardless but buying outright seems like it could save you a lot of money and you are in no rush to sell.

          • 2 years ago
            Anonymous

            Let's play pretend: take out those interest payments and calculate how much money I made for all of my labor.

            Also, if you have the cash to buy a house outright, how much could the $150,000 you're talking about earn in normal investments at 5% - 10% over the course of the same year?

            • 2 years ago
              Anonymous

              Doesn't matter. You would have lost less without interest payments. It's better to lose $5000 then $10000, no? Not every flip is gaurunteed to turn a profit.
              >5-10%
              lol how?

              • 2 years ago
                Anonymous

                >Doesn't matter. You would have lost less without interest payments. It's better to lose $5000 then $10000, no? Not every flip is gaurunteed to turn a profit.
                OK, like I said, good luck on your venture. Some lessons you have to learn the hard way. I was exactly as dumb as you are now so I understand completely.

                > 5-10%
                >how?
                Really not hard at all unless you're completely braindead and put it all in CDs or LUNA or something moronic. Pic related.

              • 2 years ago
                Anonymous

                10% average, sure, but it's anything but a gauruntee. It can crash at any time look at the dot com bubble.

              • 2 years ago
                Anonymous

                Real estate is usually a good place to park money but if you have money to buy all cash it's better to just put the reno budget into something thats not a dump.

                IOW , instead of a $150K house you will put 50K into ( you hope) just buy a house for $200K and avoid all that hassle, labor and especially risk of going over budget WHEN (not if) some unanticipated issue comes up.
                Cheap depressed properties and repos and the like are a highly competitive market and there's usually no time to do a thorough asessment, people with the experience and capacity (skills and $$$) to fix anything snap them up sight unseen so you can't compete.

              • 2 years ago
                Anonymous

                ...did the dot com bubble not crash between the years of 1926 and 2021? As long as you didn't panic sell like a mongoloid, guess what, within a couple years you're returns for the entire period average 10%/yr. Stocks aren't meant to be used as liquid assets, they're an investment.

              • 2 years ago
                Anonymous

                You could put that shit in a GIC and make 3% right now over 1 year. 5% is reasonable to obtain.
                Anyways paying cash doesn’t make sense on a flipper home.

              • 2 years ago
                Anonymous

                3% would equate to a negative return with current inflation rates, would it not?

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        Houses still cost money to own without a mortgage, and that anon was lucky to break even...empty houses that aren't selling are targets for all kinds of theft, squatters, vandalism, arson. etc. that can literally cost as much as six months of mortgage payments with the damage done in minutes.
        Good realtors are well worth what they charge unless you essentially know their job and are willing to take on all the liability and risk that a good realtor will guide you through.
        Buying and owning real estate is incredibly comes and fraught with pitfalls that can take years to recover from. Everything that happens is for keeps and so only a fool goes into it with the attitude that all the protocols and procedures can be bypassed orcare just bullshit.

  9. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    >I'm thinking of buying a cheap house, renovating it myself, and then reselling it, and then rinse and repeat on to the next house.
    >I have no experience in DIY

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      Yes I wouldn't expect it to go smoothly my first time. Obviously there will be a learning curve. But you can learn anything on the Internet these days. There are unlimited reasources available for free. I don't see why I couldn't learn as I go.

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        You will never finish, doing a complete renovation is a lot of work even for professionals and the entire time you spend under construction is lost opportunity to recoup your investment.

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          >You will never finish
          Unironically a major source of unsellable houses that sensible flippers take advantage of.
          It's like hot rods, why buy a basket case and add $100K+ to build it out when you can find one with $100K in it already that some poor schmuck is begging you to take off his hands for $40K because he needs the cash that he tied up in it (hint) or its cheaper than a divorce.

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        if you're willing to do this work for $10 an hour and learn as you go, get a frickin job on a crew and make mistakes on someone else's dime.

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          This.

          It's way harder than you think OP. I just bought a house and everything I do takes like 3x as long as I think it will.

          I didn't like the trim, decided to do a simple diy craftsman trim with a little half round and crown molding on top. One window took me like 5 hours when I started. Not to mention the actual wall and jambs weren't flat. After getting through a few It still takes me like 2 hours.

          Another example I wanted to skimcoat the closets to have a smooth surface. Holy shit I'm in a fricking closet and it's like 90 degrees outside and every time I make one side look good I frick up the other end. Yes I'm feathering the edge I watched like 10 hours of youtube oh how to skimcoat a wall and I couldn't do it right. Took me like 6 hours to do some bullshit where I could at least sand it flat.

          • 2 years ago
            Anonymous

            >I didn't like the trim, decided to do a simple diy craftsman trim with a little half round and crown molding on top. One window took me like 5 hours when I started.

            Please post pics.

  10. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Been flipping full time for 10 years. AMA.

    Picrel. Spent the last 4 days rewiring my current project. Should make 30-40k on it.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      How many walls and things have you painted grey? When did the trend start?

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        I tried to be cool and paint the walls red wine once. Everyone hated it. I repainted the walls grey and then it sold. I prefer fun colors but what I want doesn’t matter. So yeah, everything is gray now.

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          wow, what a ridiculous tiny sink and in a stupid place right against the wall.

          this is why diy should be against the law

          all they do is polish a turd

          • 2 years ago
            Anonymous

            It was built that way you fricking moron. I’m not there to redesign it. Btw I made more on that house than you probably make in a year.

          • 2 years ago
            Anonymous

            You're better of selling an expensive turd than not selling a nice but timeless home.

            People love stupid shit. Like he posted don't do what you like or what is good. Do what sells.

  11. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    > Good idea or is this likely to end in failure?

    If you think you can, or think you can’t, you’re probably right.

  12. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    You can be a literal child and flip houses successfully.

  13. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Wouldn't it be more profitable to buy the houses and then turn them into haunted attractions? No need to renovate, just pour fake blood all around and have other scary stuff

    • 2 years ago
      Kevin Van Dam

      Or you rent them. Buy, fix it up just enough to rent it for like 120% the total mortgage and insurance payment, then sell it the next time the market goes up. But it’s still a shitty time to buy, the people who bought 10 years ago and rented are selling them right now. They bought houses for $300k, paid off half the mortgage with the rent payments, and now their remaining $150k investment is getting sold for $700k.

  14. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Doing what you are describing is possible under limited circumstances.

    Considering your experience level, which is 0, you are looking at trying to make a deal at a foreclosure auction, making some minor repairs and listing for full.price.

    Ideally, and where the money can be had, is buying a distressed property in a halfway decent area and bringing it up to comps. This takes time, capital, research, market knowledge, skills and preferably connections with trades people.

  15. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Test

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      Welcome back anon

  16. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Flipping houses is good business of you do it right.

    Now, you have to read regulations and provision about it. For example in my country, if you sell a house/apartment within 3 years of buying it, you have to give the state 25% tax on the price of your house. Since the state views it as a business.

    So, you can calculate if it's profitable for you. You could rent for 2.5 years, renovate for the rest of 0.5 and sell without tax.

    Yet if you're gonna flip lots of houses, the tax shouldn't be a prob

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