How can I learn about flipping houses?

warby68

With 'only' £20k you might be better buying your first home and doing that up to  develop some skills and  knowledge whilst also having somewhere to live at no extra cost. Be aware though that you won't be able to get a mortgage on a complete wreck. It would have to be fundamentally sound and habitable. Plenty move up the property ladder this way and if they're lucky use the capital gain to buy additional properties eventually,

You mention 'up north' - not sure if you mean to move there but long distance flipping is probably almost impossible for anyone let alone newbies. The extra cost/time makes it unworkable.

Flipping really isn't a pot of gold for very many. There is so much competition for property that will be lucrative that it is hard for the inexperienced with little money to get into.

Nebulous2

Doozergirl said:

p00hsticks said:

DestinyGamer said:

We've been looking at houses up north. Some as cheap as £10k at auction.

They're as cheap as £10k for a reason though. My home is in one of the areas often featured in Homes Under the Hammer. It cost just over £30k 30 years ago and I don't expect to get any more for it if I sell it now.

On a very cheap house you can easily spend more doing it up than the house originally cost just with a basic new bathroom, kitchen, central heating boiler and redecorating, and it's not going to double the price of the house. 

This.  All day long.  

I'm living in a town with some modern bungalows and houses. £300k a pop or so for 4 beds. There are also quite a few listed buildings with the local preservation society 'policing' it to make sure you don't break the rules. £100k will buy you the same floor space, with much less outdoor space. Then you have a nightmare of negotiating all the listed stuff, getting tradesmen who will follow the requirements in the plans. It would be very easy to spend £100k on it and add £20-30k to the value. 

 Lots of people have looked at the pricing disparity and thought there was money to be made. There is a big warehouse type building partly converted into 4 flats, with work stopped. It has been for sale for 3 years with no takers. Meanwhile development land / house plots are worth more than existing houses. They are much cheaper than the modern stuff for a reason.

Markneath

I used to do this full time until a few years ago, it’s now difficult to get properties at the correct purchase price that allow for a decent profit at the end. 

HUTH give a lot of very optimistic resale values and are sketchy with costs so don’t go there for your research. 

letsbetfair

What happens with house prices is beyond your control, but will make a big difference to how hard it is to make money flipping. You can do a lot wrong and still make a profit if prices rise by 10% in the 6 months you own a property and places are selling in days... Or if prices fall a small profit margin might quickly become a loss.

With the amount you've got saved up, you'll need to borrow to get into this business. Doing this when you don't have a background in the business seems risky to me. As suggested, can you start with a house for yourself?

oystercatcher

I have always loved watching Homes Under The Hammer so was very interested a good few years back when my local town was featured. A guy bought a small plot of land and built a three bed house. It was valued same as the nearby houses. 

Three years later a family member was house hunting and I noticed that this particular house was STILL on the market at a very reasonable price for a 3 bed so we went to look. It was one of those 'don't touch with a bargepole' places! Really strange layout that couldn't be altered easily and dreadful finish! 

OK this is just one property among loads but it does show that the show is very generous with its final valuations and certainly doesn't give a clear picture .

OP if you really are serious about this I suggest learning some skills like plumber, electrician, building as it is hiring the trades in that up the cost of improving anywhere and in this day and age people expect work to be done properly and to an excellent standard. Then maybe as someone else suggested, buy a run down place to live in and improve while still working normal jobs.

UnderOffer

Do you have any DIY skills, ie can you plumb, plaster, are you a roofer? If you have to pay other trades people to do all the renovations I can’t imagine there is much profit to pay 2 of you a wage. 

GDB2222

I don’t think that this works if you employ builders at standard rates to do the work. It might work if you buy cheaply, are prepared to camp in the property whilst doing it up, and have the skills to do much of the work yourself. 

Davesnave

If you are thinking of flipping soon, there are other elements besides building skills to consider. The future of the economy will be very different once QE stops.

purplebutterfly

In my area (I'm up North!)  there seems to be a notion that "flipping" a house involves taking a house with dated decor, ripping everything out, painting everything grey and installing the cheapest kitchen and bathroom available (it goes without saying that there is cheap grey carpet throughout).

These houses are then put back on the market within a month with a huge mark-up. 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, they only sell for slightly more than they were bought for and not the vastly inflated price they are marketed at.   

I don't know if it is enough to make a profit but I would guess the profit is no more than a few thousand on any given house. 


We actually viewed some before and after - there was never anything done that wasn't cosmetic.  Creaky floorboards were still the same, broken bits of widow ledge the same, roof tiles still missing etc.  I  found it insulting that they slapped grey paint on the walls and added £30k to the price of a £98k house. 

Please don't be that kind of "flipper".  Be like Doozergirl.   

Hell, we should ALL be more like Doozergirl all the time, in all ways. 

GDB2222

purplebutterfly said:

Hell, we should ALL be more like Doozergirl all the time, in all ways. 

All ways?! You mean transition?